Girl becomes 11th bird flu death in Vietnam in a month

A 13-year-old girl became the latest victim to die from bird flu in Vietnam, bringing the human toll to 11 in the past month, an official said Saturday.

The girl from southern Dong Thap province died Friday night at Pediatric Hospital Number 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, a hospital doctor said on condition of anonymity.

Her 35-year-old mother died from bird flu Jan. 21, after the two of them slaughtered a duck, said Nguyen Ngoc An, director of Dong Thap´s Preventive Medicine Center.

Three more people confirmed to have contracted the bird flu virus remained hospitalized Saturday with a 10-year-old girl from southern Long An province in critical condition in Ho Chi Minh City, while two men from northern Vietnam, ages 66 and 30, were in stable condition in Hanoi.

Meanwhile, a 25-year-old Cambodian woman with bird-flu like symptoms was admitted to a hospital in southern Vietnam and tests were being run to determine if she was infected, officials said.

If the virus is confirmed, she would be the first human case outside Vietnam since the outbreak began in December