A 20-year old male patient has died of the H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus in the northern Vietnam province of Ha Tay. This is the first confirmed death due to the disease in the nation since 2005.

Health authorities warn of a possible pandemic due to the fact that the virus is highly contagious and spreads through poultry at a rapid pace. The national death toll has now hit a total of 43 in the Southeast Asian country.

Sources say that the man raised game cocks and ducks, which made him susceptible to the feared flu strain. There are currently five reported cases of the disease where two people have recovered and two are still under treatment.

Around a hundred fatalities have been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2003. Experts fear that things may worsen if the virus mutates and becomes transmissible from human to human rather than just being a bird to man infection cycle.