A teenager from Vietnam's northern Hai Phong city has been confirmed to contract bird flu, according to a report of Vietnam's National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology.

Specimens from the 15-year-old boy named Vu Van Hoa from Tien Lang district, who had contacts with infected fowls, have been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1. He is under treatment at the city-based Viet Tiep Hospital, said the newspaper News Tuesday quoting the report of the institute.

Among five people from Hai Phong recently admitted to the hospital and the Tropical Disease Institute in Hanoi after showing bird flu symptoms, only Hoa has been confirmed to contract H5N1.

According to the initial diagnosis, three others are not infected with the disease, the newspaper said, noting that testing results for the last patient, a staff of Hai Phong's Veterinary Bureau, has yet to come out.

Now, bird flu is spotted in 23 communes of Hai Phong's seven districts.

Vietnam has detected 65 human cases of bird flu infections, including 22 fatalities, in 25 cities and provinces since December 2004, the Health Ministry said on Nov. 21, noting that the accumulated numbers of bird flu infections and fatalities since December 2003 are 92 and 42, respectively.

A total of 19 localities nationwide have detected poultry deaths since Oct. 1. Recent tests show that fowls in southern Dong Thap province are not infected with bird flu viruses.

Hanoi and southern Bac Lieu province have met criteria for announcing an end to bird flu outbreaks (detecting no new affected spots for at least three weeks). Therefore, the current number of bird flu-hit localities, all in the northern and central regions, is 16.

The Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said Vietnam has, since Oct. 1, culled over 1 million fowls. The fowls were not only infected ones but also healthy ones, because Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and central Da Nang city have decided to stop raising poultry in their inner areas this month.

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 VND (221.5 million US dollars), according to the ministry.

Source: Xinhua