HANOI, Vietnam, June 1 The deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza was confirmed Friday in a poultry worker in Vietnam.Nguyen Duc Hien, head of the National Institute for Tropical Diseases, said that the man has been hospitalized since last Saturday and is recovering, the newspaper Thanh Nien reported. He became sick 12 days after starting work at a Hanoi slaughterhouse.Tran Thuy Hanh, director of the Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, said that two people have been admitted to the hospital in the past two days with flu-like symptoms and one has died. But she said tests must still be done to confirm the H5N1 strain.The latest outbreak in Vietnam began a month ago and has spread through 14 provinces.At least 42 people have died of the H5N1 strain since 2003, when it appeared in Southeast Asia. The strain rarely spreads to humans and has mostly appeared in poultry workers or other people who have been in contact with infected birds.Copyright 2007 by UPI
