HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam confirmed its first human death from bird flu since 2005, as the latest flare-up of the virus ravaged poultry stocks, official media said Saturday.
Tests confirmed the 20-year-old from northern Ha Tay province died from the H5N1 virus on June 10, the Vietnam News Agency quoted Vice Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan as saying at a bird flu meeting.
The man's family raised about two dozen fighting cocks along with ducks, the agency said. His house and surrounding areas have been disinfected.
His death brought the country's toll to 43. Vietnam had not reported a human bird flu death since November 2005, though four other people were recently infected. Two have fully recovered.
A government reported cited by the online newspaper Vietnamnet said bird flu outbreaks in poultry have been reported in 18 provinces since early May. The outbreak has killed or forced the slaughter of nearly 200,000 birds, nearly all ducks.
The report blamed the latest outbreaks on negligence by local authorities in fighting the virus, which has killed at least 191 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was reported to have ordered local governments to work out detailed, aggressive measures to prevent the virus from spreading further.
"The risks of new outbreaks and the virus spreading on a large scale are huge," Vietnamnet quoted the report as saying.
The disease remains hard for humans to catch, but experts fear it may mutate into a dangerous form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic that could kill millions. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.
