> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foodconsumer.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Flu deaths reported in Vietnam, Mexico - URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/flu_deaths_0121120351/ - Published: 2012-01-21T16:49:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-22T16:12:17.000Z - Description: Vietnam confirmed its first human bird flu death in nearly two years, an 18-year-old who worked on a duck farm, a day after a 2-year-old boy died in Cambodia. Both deaths were linked to poultry contact. Since 2003, 341 of 578 confirmed H5N1 cases worldwide have been fatal. - Author: Food Consumer - Tags: Disease, Health News, #vivvo-import By Maria Cendejas Vietnam sees first flu death in 2 years On Thursday Vietnam confirmed its first human death from bird flu in nearly 2 years, a day after Cambodia also had its first fatality this year as new cases of the H5N1 virus were reported in Asia and the Middle East. Both deaths show to be linked to contact with poultry. In Indonesia, Egypt and China, other human bird flu cases have been recently reported. During the winter flu months outbreaks typically flare among poultry stocks resulting in an abundance of human cases. After being hospitalized a day earlier an 18 year old Vietnamese man died on Monday, said Dang Thi Thanh of southern Kien Giang province's health department. The man was working on a duck farm in neighboring Can Tho City when he fell sick with a high fever and with breathing problems. His house has been disinfected and those who were in contact with him remain under surveillance. “No sick or dead poultry have been reported on the two farms where the man worked or among neighboring flocks, but samples have been collected for analysis and the farms have been disinfected. However, many of the ducks on the farms where the man worked had already been sold,” said Huynh Thi Khai Hoan, an animal health officer in Can Tho City. On January 3, a 2-year old boy developed symptoms in Cambodia, and died on Wednesday. According to the World Health Organization, he was in contact with sick poultry in his village. The virus barely infects humans, usually only people who come in direct contact with the diseased poultry. But experts fear it will mutate into a new form that will easily pass from person to person. Since 2003, there have been 341 human deaths from 578 confirmed bird flu cases in the world. Of those deaths, 60 were reported in Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department, Vietnam hasn’t seen a human bird flu death since April 2010. The government called to step-up efforts to fight bird flu as a big movement of people and poultry begins ahead of the Lunar New Year festivities. Two flu deaths reported in Mexico On Saturday, Health authorities said that in the first weeks of the new year, an outbreak of H1N1 swine flu killed two people in Mexico’s capital, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old, according to AFP. Armando Ahued the health secretary of Mexico's Federal District said,“ there were 138 confirmed cases of the flu, including 110 cases of A(H1N1), a novel strain of the swine flu that was first detected in 2009.” Nationwide, 333 cases of the virus have been confirmed, said the federal government's health secretary earlier in the week, without saying how many deaths had been attributed to it. The latest victims were the 19- and 21-year olds who died in different hospitals. Ahued said, "The tendency toward an increase in flu cases is normal because January is the month with the lowest temperatures, and that the incidence of flu should begin to subside in February.” The first outbreak of H1N1 virus occurred in April of 2009 in Mexico and the United States, and quickly became a worldwide pandemic that claimed the lives of 17,000 people. Only in Mexico more than 1,250 people have died. The WHO declared the pandemic was over in 2010 as the flu returned to typical seasonal patterns.