Vietnamese teenager confirmed with H5N1 bird flu
The Star, 23 Nov 2005

HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese teenager has been confirmed with the H5N1 bird flu virus, health officials said on Tuesday. 

Doctors from the health department of the northern port city of Haiphong told Reuters laboratory tests showed 15-year-old Vu Van Hoa, who is being treated at a local hospital, had contracted the deadly strain. 

"His condition is stable and slowly recovering," said a doctor from Haiphong's Viet-Tiep hospital, adding that Hoa had been transferred to another hospital in the capital, Hanoi, for treatment and observation. 

Hoa was hospitalized late last week together with four other patients from Haiphong who were suspected having bird flu. 

However, tests performed on the other four, who included a veterinarian who had developed flu symptoms after coming into contact with sick chickens, were negative for H5N1, they said. 

A total of 16 of Vietnam's 64 provinces have declared bird flu outbreaks in poultry flocks, according to the Agriculture Ministry. 

The H5N1 virus has killed 67 people in Asia, including 42 in Vietnam, since late 2003. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among people and trigger a global pandemic of killer flu.