The Change Mariner

Death Toll From Bird Flu Hits 16

Financial Times:

The death toll from the bird flu epidemic sweeping across Asia rose to 16 on Thursday after a 16-year-old girl in Vietnam died from the disease, making it the country's 11th fatality from the outbreak.

Vietnamese health officials said the girl was from the southern province of Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta, one of the provinces hit hardest by the outbreak. The girl died at Ho Chi Minh City's Hospital for Tropical Disease on Tuesday, said Tran Tinh Hien, the centre's deputy director, but her death was only disclosed on Thursday.

The latest death came as China and Thailand again asserted that the epidemic was under control in their countries, despite the emergence of new cases of avian flu in both humans and poultry.