HANOI - A 32-YEAR-OLD man from northern Vietnam is in hospital with bird flu in the country's third such case this year, officials said on Monday.

The patient from Ninh Binh province went down with high fever and respiratory problems on February 5 after killing and eating infected chicken, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the preventive health care department, in an official statement.

The man's case was confirmed on Saturday at the Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases in Hanoi, where he is on oxygen support.

But an eight-year-old girl from the northern province of Thanh Hoa recovered after several days of hospital treatment. Communist Vietnam has recorded 52 human deaths from bird flu, the world's second highest toll after Indonesia, where the virus has killed 115 people. -- AFP