Vietnamese Woman Tests Positive for Bird Flu, HIV

Health officials in Vietnam say a young woman has tested positive for both bird flu and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Doctors say the 21-year-old woman lives in Quang Ninh province, bordering China. She was hospitalized in early March with fever and coughing.

This is the first confirmed case of bird flu in Quang Ninh and the first simultaneous case of bird flu and HIV. The province has some of the highest numbers of HIV carriers in Vietnam, mostly drug addicts and prostitutes.

Since the end of 2003, bird flu has killed 36 Vietnamese, 12 Thais and three Cambodians.

Health experts fear the bird flu virus, usually contracted by contact with infected poultry, could lead to a pandemic if it changes into a form that could be easily transmitted among humans.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.