HANOI, Nov. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam's Health Ministry has confirmed that a 35-year-old man from Hanoi capital, who died on Oct. 29, was infected with bird flu, raising the total number of fatalities to 42.

    According to Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, the specimens from the man from Dong Da district were tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, local newspaper Young People on Tuesday quoted Deputy Minister of HealthTrinh Quan Huan as saying.

    The man ate chicken brought at a local market on Oct. 17, and then was admitted to the city-based Tropical Disease Institute on Oct. 26 after exhibiting bird flu symptoms. Nine other people in his family also ate the chicken, but developed no symptoms.

    "People must not eat meat or products from dead or sick poultry,or fowls without clear origin or quarantine," Huan stressed.

    Up to 92 Vietnamese people have been infected with bird flu since the disease started to break out in the country in late 2003.Of them, 42 have died.

    At an irregular meeting of the National Anti-Bird flu Steering Committee on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked relevant state agencies and localities nationwide to beef up anti-bird flu activities.

    If bird flu progresses complexly, Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2006 will be shaved off 1 percent, he stated. The country has set initial target of GDP growth of 8 percent next year.

    According to the committee, bird flu, since early last month, broke out in nine communes of six cities and provinces, namely BacLieu, Dong Thap, Quang Nam, Bac Giang, Thanh Hoa and Hanoi, killing and leading to the forced culling of nearly 20,700 fowls. According to tests by local veterinary agencies, some 60 percent of waterfowls, mainly ducks, in Vietnam are positive to H5N1.

    Vietnam 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, according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    Previous outbreaks starting in December 2003 killed and led to the forced culling of some 46.6 million fowls in Vietnam, causing losses of 3.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (221.5 million US dollars), according to the agriculture ministry. Enditem