A 3-year-old child from Vietnam's southern Hau Giang province died after exhibiting bird flu symptoms, and specimens from the patient are being tested for bird flu virus strain H5N1.

The child from Chau Thanh district died seven hours after being admitted to the Pediatrics Hospital in southern Can Tho city on Dec. 12.

One week before the child started falling ill, five to 10 ducks around the patient's house became sick and died, local newspaper Youth reported Wednesday.

Currently, 24 localities of Vietnam have detected poultry deaths since early October, three of which were not infected with bird flu viruses by test show. In the period, nearly 3.6 million fowls have died and been culled, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

On Dec. 18, southern Ho Chi Minh City will stage an anti-bird flu rehearsal, under which some 500 healthcare workers are to deal with a mock detection of 20 employees of a company being infected with H5N1.

Source: Xinhua