# 1403
During my not-quite-72-hour-Holiday-hiatus word of two deaths linked to H5N1 made the newswires. One confirmed, and one suspected. Crof at Crofsblog covered these stories like a trooper, even on Christmas day.
My thanks go to him for keeping all of us informed.
In Vietnam they are investigating the suspicious death of a 4-year-old child. This is just a `suspected case', and test results are pending.
Vietnamese child dies suspectedly from bird flu
www.chinaview.cn
2007-12-26 10:15:14
HANOI, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- A four-year old child from Vietnam's northern Son La province has recently died after showing bird flu symptoms, local newspaper Labor reported Wednesday.
The child from Moc Chau district died in the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi capital after suffering from severe pneumonia and high fever, the newspaper quoted a representative of Vietnam's Health Ministry as saying.
The child ate a dead chicken before developing bird flu symptoms. Specimens from the child are being tested for bird flu virus strain H5N1, the representative told a meeting of the country's Anti-Bird Flu Steering Committee on Tuesday.
Vietnam has detected seven bird flu patients from the five northern provinces of Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam and Ha Tay since May 10, of whom four died, according to the ministry's Preventive Medicine Department.
Meanwhile, on Christmas Day in Indonesia it was announced that a 24-year-old woman died from bird flu, making their 94th fatality.
Bird flu death rises to 94 in Indonesia
www.chinaview.cn
BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- An Indonesian woman died Tuesday from bird flu, raising the country's death toll from the disease to 94, according to media reports Wednesday.
The woman from Cengkarang, on the western outskirts of Jakarta, tested positive for the H5N1 strain after being hospitalized for six days, said Joko Suyono, an official at the Indonesian Health Ministry's avian flu center.
"The woman bought a live chicken in the market and slaughtered the chicken there before taking it home. But we're still investigating the cause as a team is heading to the neighborhood today," Suyono said.
Indonesia has the world's highest number of human deaths from bird flu -- almost half of the recorded, said the World Health Organization, adding almost all cases have originated from sick poultry.
Humans are typically infected with bird flu by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, possibly infecting millions around the world.
Indonesia, which has millions of backyard chickens and poor medical facilities, is a potential hotspot for global bird flu pandemic, experts warned.
At least 340 people in 13 countries have contracted the virus since 2003, the World Health Organization said.
(Agencies)
