HANOI, June 12 (Reuters) - Two Vietnamese women have tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, but one has recovered while the other is in intensive care, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The online newspaper Vietnamnet (www.vnn.vn) quoted the director of the Vietnam Administration of Preventive Medicine Nguyen Huy Nga as confirming the two women, aged 28 and 29, from the northern provinces of Thanh Hoa and Ha Nam, had bird flu.

Nga said both had been admitted to a hospital in Hanoi.

The 29-year-old woman from Thanh Hoa, who was infected after eating dead duck, had recovered, while other woman was using a respirator to breathe, Nga said.

Both Thanh Hoa and Ha Nam are among a list of 15 provinces and a city that have reported bird flu outbreaks in poultry since early May.

The two new human cases came only a day after doctors said a man who was Vietnam's first human bird flu case in a year and a half has won the battle against the virus, leaving hospital on Monday.

Doctors were still treating a second patient, a slaughterhouse worker from outside Hanoi who became sick late last month. The patient was recovering well, they said.

Bird flu has killed 42 people out of 95 cases of infection in Vietnam since it emerged in late 2003.

Meanwhile, the Animal Health Department said three bird flu cases in poultry were found on June 7 and June 8 in the northern province of Thai Binh, which had reported outbreaks in other districts in the province.

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