New Vision via AFP: Vietnam has recorded its second death from bird flu in 2014, a health official said Thursday, as regional concerns over a potential resurgence of the deadly virus grow. A 60-year-old woman from southern Dong Thap province died on January 28 and tested positive for the H5N1 virus the following day, provincial medical department director Nguyen Ngoc An told AFP.It follows the death of a 52-year-old man from the southern Binh Phuoc province on January 18. Demand for poultry in Vietnam tends to increase at the end of January as families celebrate the Tet lunar new year festival.
The H5N1 virus has caused 649 confirmed flu cases in humans since it re-emerged in 2003, resulting in 385 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact. But experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to trigger a pandemic.
Vietnam has recorded one of the highest fatality rates from bird flu in Southeast Asia.It has claimed 63 lives so far, including one in 2013, according to the WHO. The WHO figures do not include the two recent deaths in Vietnam....
A map of a 2009 outbreak of H1N1 in Vietnam, created by Zuanzuanfuwa, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
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