For more than one-year, bird flu had seemingly gone away, disappeared. However, on Thursday, health officials in Vietnam confirmed to Bikyamasr.com that an 18-year-old had died of the deadly virus. The young man from Vietnam's Mekong Delta officially became the first person to die of the virus since 2010, officials added. “No H5N1 patient was discovered last year,” said Phi Van Kien, an official from the Department of Preventive Health and Environment, referring the bird flu strain of the flu virus. “This is the first patient to die of bird flu this year.” The World Health Organization representatives in the country also concurred. The teenager, who worked at a duck farm in Hau Giang province, was admitted to hospital with respiratory problems on January 10, but he died the same day. On Tuesday, a blood sample sent to the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City tested positive for H5N1, said Le Van San, a doctor at the institute. Last year, the virus killed 151,300 domestic fowl, 50 percent fewer than 2010, authorities said in December. In 2010, seven people were reported infected with H5N1, two of whom died. There have been 119 confirmed human H5N1 infections in Vietnam since the virus first appeared in the country in late 2003, including 59 deaths. ** with dpa BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/ZBdTG Tags: Bird flu, H5N1, Vietnam Section: East Asia, Health, Latest News
