A Cambodian woman who died in Vietnam was killed by bird flu, a doctor said Tuesday, the latest victim of fresh outbreaks of the deadly virus taking a steady toll of human lives and possibly spreading abroad. 

"We have been informed that tests showed she was infected by the poultry virus," said the doctor at the General Hospital of Kien Giang Province. The hospital treated Tit Sakhan before she died on Sunday, two days after being admitted with a high fever.

Ho Chi Minh City tried to stem the third wave of bird flu outbreaks by ordering the slaughter of all its ducks, which can carry the virus without showing symptoms.

It had given officials until Sunday to slaughter 150,000 ducks while a private firm will process 60,000 ducks for consumption, an official said.

"We will soon be out making it happen," said the official at the city's Animal Health Department.

The city has about 210,000 ducks. Half are raised outdoors on small farms, allowing a potentially rapid spread of the virus.

Health workers and market inspectors will ensure no ducks are raised locally for a year and all ducks being transported into Ho Chi Minh City will be seized for destruction, often by burning, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper said.

Vietnam will host an international conference later this month to discuss ways to combat the growing bird flu outbreak.

Ho Chi Minh City will host the February 23-25 conference that is a follow-up to last year's meeting in Thailand where delegates from concerned countries met amid an outbreak that spread to 10 Asian countries, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 100 million birds. Last year's virus jumped from people to poultry and has killed 32 in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand in the past year.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health will sponsor the event, which will also include the World Health Organization and donors from a number of countries, said Anton Rychener, FAO representative in Vietnam. "There are a certain number of issues we are discussing, mostly regional cooperation, to devise a common strategy as to how to fight against the outbreak," he said.

(China Daily February 2, 2005)