Laos fears a second human bird flu death

BANGKOK, March 5 (Reuters) - Laos believes it has had its second human death from the H5N1 bird flu virus, a 42-year-old woman who fell sick in a province near Vientiane, a senior official said on Monday.

"There's a 90 percent chance that her death was caused by H5NI, but we can't confirm that until we have a result from a WHO lab," senior Public Health Department Bounlay Phommasack said by telephone.

The laboratory tests by the World Health Organisation would take about seven days, Bounlay said.

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