Tests conducted on people who’d come into contact with the young girl confirmed to have contracted avian flu have proved negative for the H5N1 virus.

Despite the negative results, he has asked local health officials to keep close watch on the people’s health, Hien said.

Meanwhile, the institute has found that since December, six out of 12 villages in the commune have had poultry die of sickness.

Some families had many birds die, but failed to inform the local authorities and health agencies, it said.

On Thursday, Thao was showing signs of recovery, Bloomberg quoted a statement recently posted on the Government’s website.

Thao’s elder sister, Bui Thi Thuong, died on January 2, but her death may not have been related to the H5N1 strain of avian flu virus, the provincial Health Department Director Nguyen Ngoc Thanh had said.

The viral strain killed five people early in 2008 but no human deaths have been reported since last March. Vietnam has confirmed 52 bird flu fatalities among humans, the second highest death toll after Indonesia with 113 deaths so far.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved a project worth over VND120 billion (US$6.9 million) to use vaccines and control the flu epidemic from 2009-2010 period.

It has also asked concerned ministries, sectors and localities to take strict measures in dealing with the disease.

Source: SGGP