A 24-year-old man from Vietnam's central highlands Lam Dong province, and a 6-year-old girl from southern Dong Nai province, tested positive to H5N1, bringing the total deaths caused by bird flu in the country to 13, local medical officials told Xinhua on Friday.

"We have treated four flu type A patients who live in Lam Dong province. Two have already died of H5N1 according to our testing. The latest case in our hospital is a 24-year-old man," said Tran Tinh Hien, deputy director of the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City.

The adult victim, who lived in the province's Di Linh district, died on Feb. 2. Earlier, an 18-year-old man from the K'ho ethnic minority in the district, also tested positive to H5N1.

"Our testing on Jan. 2 showed that a 6-year-old girl named Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhi from Dong Nai's Bien Hoa city contracted H5N1," Phan Van Tu from the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City told Xinhua on Friday.

The child died on Tuesday after being admitted to a pediatrics hospital in Dong Nai, and then to the Hospital of Pediatrics No. 1in Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 30

She must have directly contacted an infected fowl, because her family had been offered a fighting cock by a neighbor before the traditional Lunar New Year festival, and the cock died shortly afterwards.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department, a total ofseven local people hospitalized in the city had been infected withflu type A by Thursday morning, of whom six died. The victims include two in Lam Dong and one in Dong Nai, Soc Trang, Tay Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City each.

Meanwhile, a total of six residents in central highlands Gia Lai province have been hospitalized with symptoms of fever, headache and difficult breathing, of whom one has died, local newspaper Vietnam Agriculture reported Friday.

Samples of the patients are under testing for flu type A viruses. Meanwhile, many residents in central highlands Dac Lac province are still slaughtering chickens and ducks to eat or selling poultry eggs with lower prices.

By Thursday, Vietnam reported 124 flu type A infections and suspects, who come from 22 local cities and provinces.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2004)