Another Vietnamese H5N1 Death

Vietnam confirmed on Tuesday its 42nd human death from bird flu, its first in more than three months, a Health Ministry official said.

A 35-year-old man from Hanoi, who died at a Hanoi hospital on October 29, tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Nguyen Van Binh, deputy director of the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health.

Binh said the man was admitted to the hospital on October 26, four days after his family bought a prepared chicken from a market near his house in the Dong Da District.

Other family members did not show any symptoms of bird flu, he added.

At least 63 people in Asia have been killed by the H5N1 bird flu virus since 2003. Most of the deaths have been linked to direct contact with infected birds. Vietnam's most recent death was in July.