Bird flu kills man in northern Vietnam

Bird flu killed a Vietnamese man this week, the country's second victim of the H5N1 strain in 2008, raising the national death toll from the virus to 49, health officials said Thursday.

"The man from Hai Duong province died of H5N1 type-A influenza," said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Preventive Medicine Department at the Ministry of Health. "This is 103th case of bird flu and the 49th death from it in Vietnam." (AFP)