Bird flu has hit Vietnam's southern Dong Thap province, raising the total number of affected provinces in the country to two, a local veterinary agency said Monday.

Bird flu has, since mid-July, killed 350 chickens raised by a household in Chau Thanh district, whose specimens were tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said, adding that the two southern provinces of Dong Thap and Tra Vinh are being stricken by the disease.

Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2008)