Two Vietnamese have died from respiratory illness, one of whom was infected with bird flu, local newspaper Pioneer Thursday quoted Vietnam´s Preventive Medicine Department as saying.

    The two people died at the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi capital city last week. Specimens from a patient were tested positive to the bird flu virus strain H5, and the testing on the other patient gave unclear results.

    The institute is now treating 18 local people, three of whom have been confirmed to contract H5, and the rest are suspected to be infected with the disease. A patient is in need of respiratory assistance.