HANOI: A 28-year-old woman died of the bird flu yesterday in the Vietnamese capital, becoming the second person to die from the virus in Vietnam in two weeks, officials said.

Phan Thi Xuyen died at the Hanoi Hospital of Tropical Disease, 13 days after she was admitted with symptoms of the H5N1 bird flu virus, said Nguyen Hong Ha, deputy hospital director.

Xuyen became ill in her home province of Ha Nam, 60km south of here, after she came into contact with sick poultry. Tests conducted by a Vietnamese laboratory confirmed she had been infected with the H5N1 virus.

Vietnam had reported no bird flu deaths from November 2005 until June 10, when a man from Ha Tay province died at a hospital here.

The 20-year-old man’s family raised about two dozen fighting cocks as well as ducks, media reports said.

Xuyen is the 44th person to die of bird flu in Vietnam. She was admitted to hospital on June 8.

Five people have been stricken with the bird flu in Vietnam since May 22. Two of them recovered, one remains hospitalized, and two died.

The disease remains hard for humans to catch, but experts fear it may mutate into a dangerous form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.

So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.

The bird flu virus has been ravaging Vietnam’s poultry stocks, hitting 18 provinces across the country since May and forcing the killing or slaughter of nearly 200,000 poultry, 96 per cent of them ducks. --- AP.