Feb 16, 2009, 1:36 GMT
Hanoi - A Vietnamese man has tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the third confirmed case of bird flu in Vietnam this year, hospital sources said Monday.
The patient is a man in his 30s from the province of Ninh Binh, 100 kilometres south of Hanoi. Doctors at Hanoi's Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases said he had been hospitalized for five days with high fever and respiratory difficulties, and had tested positive for bird flu on Saturday.
The patient's condition was reportedly less severe than earlier cases this year in Vietnam, but worsening.
Vietnam's first confirmed human case of bird flu this year was a 13-year-old girl from Thanh Hoa province, 150 kilometers south of Hanoi. The girl's older sister died on January 2 after displaying symptoms consistent with bird flu, but was not tested for the virus.
A 23-year-old woman in Quang Ninh province, 150 kilometres west of Hanoi, has been hospitalized with bird flu since February 3 after eating the meat of a sick chicken.
Avian influenza has infected 106 people in Vietnam and killed 52 since it first appeared in the country in late 2003.
The disease is usually spread by contact between sick birds and humans, but scientists fear that the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans and spark a global pandemic that could kill millions.
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