Specimens from a 49-year-old woman from Vietnam´s northern Ha Tay province have been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, according to local newspaper Labor on Tuesday.

    The woman named Nguyen Thi Them from the Quoc Oai district needs respiratory assistance at the Institute of Tropical Diseasesin Hanoi capital city, although she has no longer had a temperature. Earlier, she received treatment at a provincial hospital for 3 days starting on July 27.

    The woman had bought a chicken at a local market and cooked it. Local healthcare agencies have kept close surveillance on areas where she lives and on those who have close contact with her.

    Late last week, local media reported two people, a 26-year-old woman from southern Ho Chi Minh City and a 24-year-old man from southern Tra Vinh province, died of bird flu. They exhibited the disease´s symptoms after eating chicken.

    To date, Vietnam´s Health Ministry has yet to confirm the three latest human cases of bird flu infections. The ministry´s Preventive Medicine Department, in mid-July, confirmed that a total of 60 local people from 23 localities had been infected with bird flu since late December 2004, of whom 19 died.

    To deal with possible new outbreaks among poultry, Vietnam is vaccinating chickens and ducks in northern Nam Dinh province and southern Tien Giang province against bird flu viruses, including H5N1. It plans to vaccinate over 2.9 million fowls this month.