Vietnam confirms first bird flu death in two years

The H5N1 bird flu strain has killed almost 350 people since 2003, the WHO says

A man has died from bird flu in Vietnam - the first human fatality in two years - officials said on Thursday.

The H5N1 virus also claimed the life of a toddler in Cambodia on Wednesday.
The two deaths this week bring the total number of avian influenza fatalities in the region to four in the last three weeks.
A man diagnosed with China's first case of bird flu in more than a year died in Shenzhen on 31 December and a man died in Jakarta, Indonesia on 7 January.
In Vietnam, tests confirmed that the 18-year-old man, who died on Monday, had contracted the disease, health officials said.
He was working at a duck farm in Can Tho City in the Mekong delta. He came down with a high fever and developed problems.
Officials also said that his house has been disinfected and people who were in contact with him placed under surveillance.
The country's last bird flu death was in April 2010.

The two-year-old Cambodian boy from the northwestern Banteay Meanchey province fell ill on 3 January and was believed to have been in contact with sick poultry.

'Flu season' The World Health Organization says the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has killed 342 people since 2003.
The majority of human cases of H5N1 infection have been associated with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry.
In South East Asia Vietnam has seen one of the highest numbers of deaths, with 59 fatalities since 2003, according to WHO data.
The winter months, also the flu season, is when outbreaks happen among poultry stocks, leading to possible human infection.
The 24-year-old Indonesia man who died last week was the nation's third fatality in the last three months, health officials there said.
The 39-year-old Shenzhen bus driver, however, was believed to neither have been in contact with poultry or travelled recently.