A Vietnamese nurse, who has ever taken care of a bird flu patient, has just been confirmed to contract H5N1 virus, an anonymous medical official from the Hanoi-based Institute of Tropical Diseases said on Saturday.

The 46-year-old female nurse from northern Thai Binh province was admitted on Thursday to the hospital with high fever, coughing and lung infection symptoms. Now she is in a stable condition.

She had cared for a 21-year-old man who tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus and currently remains in a critical condition, said the official.

The woman is the second Vietnamese health-care worker to be sickened by the bird flu virus since a 26-year-old male nurse from the same province contracted H5N1 on March 7, who also had cared for the 21-year-old bird flu man patient.

In the most recent outbreak of bird flu starting from late December 2004, Vietnam has detected 25 local people to contract H5N1, of whom 13 have died.

Avian influenza, or "bird flu," has killed and led to the forced culling of more than 1.5 million fowls in 35 cities and provinces in Vietnam since January.

The Vietnamese government claimed that the outbreak is subsiding as 20 out of the 35 localities have detected no new bird flu-affected spots for at least three weeks so far.

Source: Xinhua