A Vietnamese girl, aged 16, has died of bird flu after battling the disease for the last few weeks. The death marks the third in just ten days in Vietnam. Asia’s human death toll from the disease stands at 35.
Last year, bird flu devastated the poultry industry in South-East Asia. 23 of the 35 killed by the H5N1 strain have died in Vietnam. 12 have died in Thailand and Malaysia announced itself free of the disease last week after reporting no human cases.
The World Health Organisation has warned against the H5N1 strain of bird flu, stating that is more deadly than SARS and could turn into a pandemic which may kill as many as 50 million people.
