Vietnam sees additional suspected bird flu case - VIETNAM - One person from Vietnam's northern region has just been hospitalized after exhibiting bird flu symptoms, local newspaper Pioneer reported Thursday.

Samples from the patient from Thai Binh province, who was admitted to the Tropical Disease Institute in Hanoi capital on March 2, are being tested for the bird flu virus strain H5N1. One day earlier, the institute received two suspected cases of bird flu infection: one from northern Hai Duong province and the other from northern Nam Dinh province.

Now, the institute is treating three confirmed cases of H5N1 infections: a 35-year-old woman named Pham Thi Hoa from Hanoi, a 21-year-old man named Nguyen Sy Tuan from Thai Binh, and the man's14-year-old sister named Nguyen Thi Ngoan. Tuan, admitted to the institute on Feb. 22, still needs respiratory assistance, while Hoa can walk normally, and Ngoan has a temperature, the paper said.

In the most recent outbreak starting in late December 2004, Vietnam has detected 21 local people to contract H5N1, of whom 13 have died. The country has also found that a Cambodian woman, who had received treatment in a Vietnamese hospital near her hometown,died of bird flu on Jan. 30.

Bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced culling of more than 1.5 million fowls in 35 cities and provinces in Vietnam since January, is subsiding. Fifteen out of the 35 localities havedetected no new bird flu-affected spots for at least three weeks, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal Health.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - 3rd March 2005