A Vietnamese female patient has died of A/H1N1 influenza virus at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the second death at the Hanoi-based hospital in the recent ten days, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. The patient, who lived in Ngoc Lac district of the northern province of Thanh Hoa, was hospitalized on March 16, suffering respiratory failure and serious lung infection. She had received intensive care, including respirator support until March 23. Doctor Tran Nhu Duong, director of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said seasonal flu, including A/H1N1, could be as dangerous as bird flu strains A/H5N1 and A/H7N9. The number of A/H1N1-infected patients rose sharply in the first half of March, he said. By the end of last September, more than 11,200 people in Vietnam had been infected with the H1N1 virus since it broke out worldwide in 2009. The virus killed 70 people by end-2011 before easing last year. The Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals under the Ministry of Health has successfully produced two vaccines against two types of influenza viruses namely A/H1N1 and A/H5N1 after years of research. Under a project funded by the World Health Organization (WHO), these two vaccines are now being produced at a plant in the central province of Khanh Hoa. (Tuoi Tre – Youth March 24)
