HANOI, March 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Specimens from a five-year-old boy from Vietnam's central Quang Binh province has just been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, raising the total number of infection in the country to 25 since mid-December 2004, the newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Friday.

    The testing by the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on March 17 showed that the boy named Hoang Trong Duong from Tuyen Hoa district is infected with bird flu, the paper quoted Hoang VanMin, head of the provincial Veterinary Bureau, as saying.

    In late February, Duong's family, who live in a bird flu-hit area, slaughtered a chicken given by one of their relatives for meal, and several days later the family's three children suffered sudden illness, he said.

    One day after being admitted to a hospital in Quang Binh, Duong's 13-year-old sister died.

    Now, the boy is receiving treatment at a hospital in the neighboring city of Hue after being hospitalized on March 15.

    On March 17, a person from Quang Binh's Quang Trach district was admitted to a hospital in the district with bird flu symptoms of temperature and breathing difficulty, Min said.

    A total of 25 local people have been reported to contract H5N1 since mid-December 2004, of whom 13 died.

    Bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced culling of over 1.5 million fowls in 35 cities and provinces in Vietnam sinceJanuary, is cooling down, as 24 out of the 35 localities have detected no new affected spots for at least three weeks so far, according to the Department of Animal Health. Enditem