A teenage girl in southern Vietnam has been infected with the lethal strain of bird flu that has killed at least 20 people in the communist nation since late last year.

The 16-year-old girl from the rural southern province of Tay Ninh was receiving treatment at the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, a doctor there said, requesting anonymity.

"She is suffering from respiratory failure and is in a critical condition. We suspect that she contracted the H5N1 virus after killing and preparing a chicken for cooking," he told AFP.

He refused to give her name or say when she was admitted to the hospital in the southern business capital but said there were no signs that other members of her family had been infected.

The state-controlled Saigon Giai Phong newspaper said the teenager was infected with the virus on December 19 and was hospitalised in Tay Ninh province before being transferred to Ho Chi Minh City last Sunday.

The World Health Organization said it was closely monitoring the situation.

"We are aware of the case," Peter Horby, a communicable disease expert with the UN health agency in Hanoi, told AFP.

Vietnam has been tackling fresh outbreaks of avian influenza over the past month. The virus has been detected among poultry in seven southern Mekong Delta provinces, including Tay Ninh, forced the culling of more than 11,000 birds.

On Monday, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has ordered a ban on the transportation of sick poultry from affected areas.

The government said in October that it had brought bird flu under control.

It had made a similar announcement on March 30 but had to admit later that the declaration had been premature after three people, including two children, died in August after being infected with the H5N1 virus.

More than 44 million poultry have died or been culled since December 2003 as a result of bird flu, which has claimed 20 lives in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand.

Experts said avian influenza has entrenched itself in much of Asia and is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

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WHO Statement

Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam

30 December 2004

WHO has received informal reports of a laboratory-confirmed case of H5N1 infection in Viet Nam.

The patient, who has been hospitalized since 26 December, is a 16-year-old girl who fell ill in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

Vietnamese authorities are investigating the source of her infection, including the possibility of contact with infected poultry.

This is the first human case of H5N1 detected in Viet Nam since early September. It coincides with several fresh poultry outbreaks reported in southern provinces in December. Recent poultry outbreaks in Tay Ninh Province have not been reported.

As avian influenza viruses become more active at cooler temperatures, further poultry outbreaks, possibly accompanied by sporadic human cases, can be anticipated.

Poultry marketing, transportation, and consumption increase in Viet Nam with the approach of the Lunar New Year in early February. These activities create conditions favouring the spread of poultry outbreaks and call for heightened control measures.

Since January of this year, 28 human cases have been detected in Viet Nam. Of these, 20 were fatal. Thailand has also reported human cases, bringing the total in Asia since the beginning of this year to 45 cases, of which 32 have been fatal.