The 32-year-old from the mountainous Tuyen Quang province northwest of Hanoi died on Jan. 18, two days after he was admitted to Hanoi's National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital, said director Nguyen Hong Ha.

Initial tests on the patient, who suffered severe pneumonia symptoms after reportedly preparing and eating poultry he found dead near his house, indicated he was infected with H5N1, and the result was confirmed Wednesday.

It is the first reported human case of the disease in Vietnam this year.

"The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has confirmed to us that he has tested positive for the H5N1 virus," Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Health Ministry's Preventive Health Department, told AFP.

The national Animal Health Department, meanwhile, reported that a poultry outbreak in Tuyen Quang was confirmed Tuesday by the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control.