HANOI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A local man from Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen province has been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, becoming the country's second bird flu patient since November 2005, Vietnam News Agency reported on Saturday.

    Quoting the Preventive Medicine Department under the Health Ministry, the report said the man from the province's Pho Yen district, who worked at a poultry slaughterhouse in Hanoi on May 14 and developed bird flu symptoms five days later, was admitted to the city-based Tropical Disease Hospital and now has to use a respirator.

    Late last month, the ministry confirmed that a 30-year-old man from Me Linh district, northern Vinh Phuc province became the country's latest bird flu patient after a 17-month absence of human infections.

    The man named Phung Minh Phuc, exhibiting bird flu symptoms on May 10 after having slaughtered chickens for a wedding party, is recovering well at the city-based Bach Mai Hospital.

    The Bach Mai Hospital received two men with bird flu symptoms on May 31 and June 1, one of them died, and the other, a 29-year-old policeman named Phung Tien Dong, who has taken part in culling infected fowls, is under treatment. Specimens from the two people are being tested for bird flu viruses.

    To date, Vietnam has reported a total of 95 human cases of bird flu infections, including 42 fatalities.

    However, the World Health Organization has yet to confirm the two latest cases of infections in the country's northern region.