Bird flu has recently hit Vietnam's southern Kien Giang province, raising the total number of localities currently affected by the disease to five, according to local newspaper Vietnam Agriculture Monday.

Specimens from 1,000 ill chickens raised by a household in Tan Hiep district were tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, the paper quoted head of the provincial veterinary bureau Dinh Cong Than as saying.

Now, bird flu is hitting the two central provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An, and the two southern provinces of Tra Vinh and Kien Giang, and southern Can Tho City, according to the country's Department of Animal Health.

Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2008)