The Associated Press reports Ben Tre, from the southern Mekong Delta province, died on July 31. He tested positive for the H5N1 flu virus on Saturday, says Phan Van Tu, chief virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.
Tre fell ill July 25, a week after he butchered and ate two dead chickens given to him by his mother and a neighbor, says Nguyen Huu Sinh, director of Ben Tre provincial Preventive Medicine Center.
A total of 61 people have died of bird flu in the region, including 42 in Vietnam.
The man's death comes days after the United States announces a bird flu vaccine had shown positive results in humans. The vaccine is difficult to produce and only effective in large doses, but the World Health Organization praises it as a good first step.
