Further testing has shown that a dead man from Vietnam´s northern Thai Binh province had been infected with bird flu as his alive younger brother, local newspaper Labor on Friday quoted the National Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute as saying.

    "The third testing by our institute showed that samples from the 47-year-old patient Nguyen Huu Viet were positive to H5N1,"said Institute Director Nguyen Tran Hien, noting that samples from his 42-year-old brother named Nguyen Thanh Hung were earlier tested positive to the bird flu virus.

    Viet had been looked after by Hung, who lived in Hanoi before he died on Jan. 9 at the Tropical Disease Institute in the capital.

    "H5N1 spreading from persons to persons is merely hypothetical. It can´t be concluded that this is a human-to-human transmission case,"the director noted.

    Two previous tests indicated that Viet had not been infected with H5N1. On the contrary, the first testing on samples from Hungshowed that the younger man had not contracted the virus, but the two following tests proved that he is a bird flu victim.

    Hung, admitted to the Tropical Disease Institute on Jan. 13 with symptoms of high temperature and damaged lungs, is now in stable health condition. His life will certainly be saved, local doctors said, noting that he has had no contact with fowls or lived in bird flu-hit areas.

    On Thursday, the Tropical Disease Institute received three suspected cases of bird flu infection, of whom one is Viet´s younger brother. Now, it is treating seven patients, including sixsuspected cases.

    Also on Thursday, the Hanoi-based National Hospital of Pediatrics received a 10-year-old child from northern Ha Tay province. The patient is suspected to have contracted H5N1.

    Vietnam´s Ministry of Health confirmed six cases of bird flu infections between Dec. 28, 2004 and Jan. 18, 2005. All of them, who lived in the southern region, died. On Jan. 19, Hung was reported as the first bird flu victim in the northern region, and Viet the second.