HANOI, Vietnam: Asia´s death toll from bird flu rose to 50 on Wednesday when Vietnamese health officials and a hospital doctor confirmed two additional deaths in Vietnam. 

A 10-year-old girl who tested positive for the H5N1 virus died of lung failure hours after she was admitted to St. Paul´s Hospital in Hanoi on March 27, a hospital doctor said on condition of anonymity. Test results by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology were released on Monday, the doctor said. 

In addition, Vietnam´s Health Ministry confirmed one other previously unreported death, though officials there gave no details about when the patient died, where they were from, and their age or gender. 

Vietnam has reported a total of 16 deaths from bird flu since the country´s latest outbreak began in late December. 

Since a severe stain of the disease started surging through poultry farms in Asia in December 2003, a total of 50 people have died in the region _ 36 from Vietnam, 12 from Thailand and two from Cambodia.