A three-year-old girl on Wednesday became the second person to die of bird flu this year in Vietnam, a doctor said.The child succumbed after about a week in a Ho Chi Minh City pediatric hospital with a severe lung infection, said Phan Van Nghiem, of the city's health department.
The girl, from southern Binh Duong province, was Vietnam's 59th human fatality from bird flu, also known as H5N1.
A 38-year-old woman in southern Tien Giang province died from the virus in late February.
Vietnam has the world's second-highest bird flu death toll after Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization.
The H5N1 virus typically spreads from birds to humans via direct contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to kill millions in a pandemic.