A Vietnamese animal health inspector sits next to poultry cages as a seller waits for customers at a wholesale poultry market in Hanoi, Vietnam November 3, 2005. (Xinhua/Reuters)

HANOI, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A 25-year-old woman from Vietnam's Hanoi capital city has been hospitalized after showing bird flu symptoms, local newspaper Youth reported Thursday.

    The woman from Dong Da district was admitted to the Hanoi-based Bach Mai hospital on Tuesday. She developed many symptoms similar to bird flu ones. She had fever and suffered from pneumonia.

    The hospital has sent specimens from her to the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology for bird flu testing. The woman's mother said she had bought semi-processed chicken at a local market for meal at home. Four people in her family had eaten the meat. After that, only her daughter exhibited the bird flu symptoms.

    Vietnam has reported no new bird flu patients since late July, Vietnamese Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan said at press briefing on Wednesday. Up to 91 Vietnamese people have been infected with bird flu since the disease started to break out in the country in late 2003. Of them 41 have died.

    

A poultry vendor transports chickens out from an empty poultry market in Hanoi, Vietnam November 3, 2005. (Xinhua/Reuters)

To cope with potential bird flu outbreaks, the ministry is mapping out a national rehearsal plan on fighting the disease, he said, adding that the country will stage the rehearsal in Hanoi, southern Ho Chi Minh city and central Nha Trang city in mid-this month. The ministry has also warned that local people should not eat fowls and their products.

    At a press briefing last week, Bui Quang Anh, director of the Vietnam Veterinary Department, said Vietnam has, since early last month, spotted two bird flu outbreaks, one in southern Dong Thap province and another in southern Bac Lieu province. Some 400 out of a flock of 600 ducks in Dong Thap, and part of a flock of more than 1,000 ducks in Bac Lieu died of bird flu.

    The country is facing a high risk of large bird flu outbreaks, especially in the southern Mekong Delta and the northern Red Riverdelta, since weather conditions are favorable for the development of bird flu viruses, he said. Enditem