A 10-year-old girl from Vietnam's southern Long An Province died of bird flu on Sunday night, raising the total bird flu fatalities in the country since late December to 12.  

"The patient, born in 1995, died at 20:00 on Jan. 30. Earlier, she was confirmed to contract the bird flu virus H5N1 by the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City," a doctor at the city-based Pediatric Hospital No. 1 in Ho Chi Minh City said on conditions of anonymity.

The girl, who was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 20 after suffering high fever and breathing difficulty, had had contact with dead chickens, the doctor said, noting that the hospital is now treating a patient from southern Tra Vinh Province, who is suspected to contract H5N1.

Since January 2005, bird flu has stricken 31 cities and provinces in Vietnam, including nine in the northern region, killing and leading to the forced culling of some 1 million poultry.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2005)