A 15-year-old student and a 71-year- old woman from Vietnam's capital Hanoi have just been hospitalized after showing bird flu symptoms, local newspaper Youth reported Wednesday.

The student and the woman, under treatment at the city-based Tropical Disease Hospital have difficulty in breathing. Specimens from the two patients are being tested for bird flu virus H5N1.

Before falling ill, the girl often ate dried poultry eggs, the report noted.

Since early last month, bird flu has been spotted in 61 communes of 13 northern, central and southern localities, leading to the forced culling of some 136,00 fowls, including nearly 94, 500 chickens, 37,110 ducks and 4,280 quails and pigeons, according to the agriculture ministry.

Previous outbreaks starting in December 2003 killed and led to the forced culling of some 46.6 million fowls in Vietnam, causing losses of 3.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (221.5 million US dollars).

Source: Xinhua