HANOI, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Two people from Vietnam's northern region have just been hospitalized for being suspected of contracting bird flu virus strain H5N1.

    The two patients, one from Hai Duong province and the other from Nam Dinh province, were admitted to the Tropical Disease Institute in Hanoi capital on March 1 after suffering from fever and breathing difficulty, local newspaper Pioneer reported Wednesday.

    The institute is treating three confirmed cases of H5N1 infections: a 35-year-old woman named Pham Thi Hoa from Hanoi, a 21-year-old man named Nguyen Sy Tuan from northern Thai Binh province, and the man's 14-year-old sister named Nguyen Thi Ngoan.Besides the two new suspected cases, it is treating a 36-year-old man from Thai Binh who is waiting for the final result of virus testing. Samples from the man were tested positive to the virus onthe first testing, but negative on the second.

    Tuan, admitted to the institute on Feb. 22, is in poor health condition, but two other bird flu patients are showing signs of recovery. Tuan and Ngoan ate goose meat, while Hoa has frequently been present in live poultry markets in the city, working as a rubbish collector, said local doctors.

    In the most recent outbreak starting in late December 2004, Vietnam has detected 21 local people to contract H5N1, of whom 13 have died, according to local media. The country's Health Ministry,however, has confirmed 12 fatalities. Vietnam has also found that a Cambodian woman, who had received treatment in a Vietnamese hospital near her hometown, died of bird flu on Jan. 30.

    Bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced culling of more than 1.5 million fowls in 35 cities and provinces in Vietnam since January, is subsiding. Fourteen out of the 35 localities have detected no new bird flu-affected spots for at least three weeks, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal Health.

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