# 1664
Yesterday morning we learned of the death of a 40-year old man from Hai Duong province due to the H5N1 virus, and a few hours later, of a second victim, a 27-year old man from Ninh Binh, who was on a ventilator.
The survival rate of avian flu victims is generally poor, but it becomes downright abysmal when they are ill enough to require a ventilator.
News of this latest patient's demise reached the wire services overnight, making him the 50th recorded fatality in Vietnam to date, and the third one this year.
This from the Associated Press.
Bird flu kills another Vietnamese man, second human death in a week
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A Vietnamese man has died of bird flu, the second human case in a week, health officials said Friday, blaming the huge consumption of poultry during the Lunar New Year holiday and recent cold spells.
The 27-year-old man died Thursday night in a Hanoi hospital. He fell ill earlier this week after eating infected chicken at his home in Ninh Binh province, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Hanoi, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department.
Test results showed he was infected with the lethal H5N1 virus. This was the country's 50th death reported since the virus began raging across Asia in late 2003.
