Flu type A fatality rate in Vietnam is much higher than that of severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS), local newspaper Young People reported Thursday.

Patients will enjoy best treatment if they are hospitalized within 48 first hours, as flu type A makes great progress, said Vuong Hung Viet, director of the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City.

Local hospitals should immediately use Tamiflu to treat patients,not transfer them to bigger hospitals to minimize fatality rates, he advised.

However, it is difficult to detect flu type A, especially among children, because many young infections and suspects have symptoms similar to cholera.

On Wednesday, China's Taiwanese Center for Disease Control donated 500 kits to rapidly test suspected cases for flu type A to the city-based Hospital of Pediatrics No.1.

By Wednesday afternoon, Vietnam detected a total of 192 flu type A infections and suspects in 27 cities and provinces, of whom 35 died. The fatality rate stood at 18.2 percent.

SARS, which hit Vietnam last March, affected 63 local people, five of whom, all hospital staff, died of the disease.