June 21 (Reuters) - A 28-year-old Vietnamese woman died on Thursday of bird flu, Vietnam's second victim of the H5N1 virus this month, a hospital official said.

The death of the woman raised Vietnam's toll since late 2003 to 44 people out of 98 cases reported by health authorities. The World Health Organisation has not confirmed the latest cases.

Here is a chronology of major recent bird flu developments:

Feb. 8, 2006 - The first African cases of the deadly H5N1 strain are detected in poultry in the northern Nigerian states of Kano, Kaduna and Plateau.

Feb. 17 - Egypt finds its first cases of H5N1 in chickens.

Feb. 18 - India announces its first cases of H5N1, finding the virus in poultry in a western state.

Feb. 25 - France confirms H5N1 at a farm in the east where thousands of turkeys have died. It is the first case of the virus in domestic farm birds in the EU.

Aug. 8 - China says its first H5N1 human case was in 2003, not in 2005 as it had originally reported.

Sept. 28 - China shares long-sought-after samples of H5N1 in what many scientists view as a breakthrough in cooperation.

Dec. 8 - Foreign donors pledge an additional $476 million for the global fight against the virus at a meeting in Mali.

Jan. 9, 2007 - China says a farmer from the eastern province of Anhui contracted H5N1 in December, the country's first human case in months. He was released from hospital on Jan. 6.

Jan. 16 - Japan confirms its first outbreak of H5N1 in three years, in poultry in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki. Three further outbreaks in poultry are confirmed by Feb. 3.

Feb. 3 - The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirms bird flu has killed a 22-year-old Nigerian woman, making her the first known human fatality of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa.

Feb. 27 - Laos confirms its first human case of bird flu. The patient dies on March 7.

April 17 - The first bird flu vaccine for people wins U.S. approval as an interim measure in case an influenza pandemic strikes before a better immunisation comes along. The vaccine made by French company Sanofi-Aventis will not be sold commercially.

May 2 - WHO confirms Ghana's first case of H5N1 bird flu. Some 1,600 birds had already been incinerated at the infected chicken farm 20 km (13 miles) east of the capital Accra.

May 22 - The WHO agrees to demands from Indonesia and other developing countries to revamp its system for sharing influenza virus samples, including H5N1, which are used to develop commercial vaccines.

-- WHO will also work to ensure "fair and equitable distribution" of pandemic influenza vaccines at affordable prices, according to the agreed resolution. May 23 - Vietnam says a 30-year-old man has suspected bird flu, its first human case since 2005.

-- Indonesia says that a 5-year-old Indonesian girl has died. Her death brings the number of confirmed deaths in Indonesia to 77.

May 30 - A 45-year-old Indonesian man from central Java died of bird flu, according to a health ministry official.

May 31 - A 15-year-old girl from central Java dies of bird flu.

June 3 - A Chinese soldier dies from bird flu, taking the death toll from the virus in the world's most populous country to 16, WHO confirms.

June 9 - A 10-year-old Egyptian girl dies from the H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing the number of deaths in the most populous Arab country to 15.

June 14 - Indonesian health officials say that the country's human death toll had risen to 80 with the death of a 20-year-old man on June 12.

June 16 - Vietnamese state-run television report that bird flu has killed a 20-year-old man, the first death in the country from the virus since late 2005.

June 21 - A 28-year-old Vietnamese woman dies of bird flu.

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