A nine-year-old boy in Vietnam has died of bird flu, bringing the number of people in the country killed by the virus to 21, a doctor said today.

A fifth person has died from bird flu in Thailand, the health minister said in Bangkok today.

Asia’s human death toll from bird flu rose to 14 today after it was announced that a teenage girl had died from the disease in Vietnam.

Two more bird flu deaths in people – one announced in Vietnam and one in Thailand – brought the death toll from the disease to 12 today, and China said it suspected the virus had reached poultry in one of its remotest regions.

A doctor in Vietnam said another person died of bird flu today, bringing the region’s toll to 11.