HANOI, March 5 (Xinhua) -- A 42-year-old woman from Laos, suspected of contracting bird flu, died, the country's news agency KPL reported Monday.

    Laboratory tests showed that specimens from the woman were positive to bird flu virus strain H5, and it will take six more days to come to conclusion whether she was infected with the virus subtype H5N1 or not, the agency quoted Bounlay Phommasack, an official from the Lao Health Ministry, as saying.

    The woman, who lived near a village that has bird flu-infected poultry, was admitted to a hospital in Laos' Vientiane capital city on March 2 after developing a fever and pneumonia.

    Late last month, a 15-year-old girl from the city became the country's first bird flu patient.