Vietnam Authorities Confirm 5th death from bird flu

Vietnamese officials and the WHO have confirmed that an eight-year-old girl was suffering from the bird flu sweeping the country and has become the fifth person to die in from the bird flu outbreak.

Vietnamese officials and the WHO have confirmed that an eight-year-old girl was suffering from the bird flu sweeping the country and has become the fifth person to die in from the bird flu outbreak.”WHO confirms this is the fifth case of death from H5N1,” said Robert Dietz, a spokesman for the United Nations agency, referring to the strain of bird flu.All of the human cases have occurred near the capital Hanoi, in the north of the country, while the flu has struck most severely in the south.About 2 million chickens have been killed by the disease or have been culled as authorities try to stamp it out.The WHO has said it has so far found no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus.(Source: ABC Health News, Reuters Health, Jan 2004)