HANOI, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Among three recent human deaths in Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen province, two were initially reported to have contracted an unidentified dangerous virus, local newspaper Labor reported Monday.

    The two deaths of Hoang Minh Nga and Nguyen Huy Dung were caused by an unidentified strain of virus, while samples from another death of Pham Thi Binh tested positive for common influenza virus type A, according to testing results of the country's Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute.

    Samples from Nga and Dung have been sent to Hong Kong for further analysis and verification, the paper said.

    As many as seven local residents, including the three deaths, from the province were admitted to the Thai Nguyen General Hospital for treatment of acute respiratory illness between Aug. 12 and Aug. 20.

    Although the deaths were not caused by bird flu viruses or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) viruses as confirmed by the institute, local healthcare authorities decided to spray chemicals to disinfect the whole hospital.

    As of Aug. 23, Vietnam had confirmed three fatal human cases of bird flu: a four-year-old boy and an 11-month-old girl from the northern province of Ha Tay, and a 25-year-old woman from the southern province of Hau Giang. Specimens from the three victims tested positive for H5N1 virus.

    On Monday, 12 special teams under Vietnam's Department of Animal Health started to inspect situations of raising and moving poultry in the Mekong Delta, the Red River Delta and bordering provinces. To date, 10 out of 11 localities hit by bird flu have been eligible for announcing the end to the disease after having seen no new outbreaks for more than 21 days, said the department.

    Eleven southern localities, including the city of Can Tho and the provinces of Hau Giang, Long An, Bac Lieu, Tra Vinh, Dong Thap,Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Kien Giang and Ben Tre, have been hit by bird flu, which has either killed or led to the forced culling of some 63,000 fowls, mainly chickens and quails since late June.

    In late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu that had killed 17 percent of its poultry population, and claimed 16 human lives since its previous outbreak last December. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing direct losses of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million US dollars) to the local poultry industry. Enditem