Vietnam confirmed Thursday an 18-year-old woman from southern Vietnam died of avian flu, the country´s fourth death from the virus in two weeks.

The woman from Hau Giang province died Monday, more than a week after slaughtering a chicken. Dr. Phan Van Tu, chief virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, said tests showed she had the H5N1 strain of the virus.

Vietnam has reported three other avian flu deaths in recent weeks, the first since September. A six-year-old boy died Dec. 30, a nine-year-old boy died Jan. 4, and a 16-year-old girl died Saturday.

All the cases were from southern Vietnam where avian flu outbreaks among poultry have re-emerged, killing or forcing the controlled slaughters of more than 100,000 birds.

The virus, which ravaged poultry farms across 10 countries in Asia, killed 24 people in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand in the last year after jumping to humans.