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New bird flu deaths in Vietnam, Combodia

March 25, 2005 19:53 IST

Vietnam and Cambodia on Friday announced new bird flu deaths, raising fears of a global pandemic.

The latest deaths were a 26-year-old man from Cambodia's southern province of Kampot and a 17-year-old woman from Vietnam's northern Nam Dinh province.

Test results from Phnom Penh's Pasteur Institute showed that the man died of the severe H5N1 strain, officials said.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu hit Asian poultry farms for the first time in December 2003.

Most human cases have been traced to contact with sick poultry, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans. But there is no evidence this has occurred yet.

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