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**MHSC** · December 19, 2006, 09:49 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

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Thanh Nien News | Society | Bird flu recurrence triggers red alert in Vietnam

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Bird flu recurrence triggers red alert in Vietnam

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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Bird flu has reared its head again in two Mekong Delta provinces, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, after over one year during which Vietnam managed to keep the epidemic out. </td> </tr><tr> <td align="left" valign="top">

At a conference held Tuesday by the National Steering Committee on Bird Flu Control, Cao Duc Phat, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the committee?s head, slammed the two provincial administrations for negligence and delay in discovering the outbreaks which had occurred at the start of December.

On December 6 the disease broke out in Ca Mau?s Tran Van Thoi district, killing 2,520 chicks and ducklings, all of which later positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.

The next day five duck flocks took ill in Hoa Binh district in Bac Lieu. Some 3,500 ducklings died, all of which too tested positive for H5N1.

The committee claimed the dead birds had not been vaccinated because they had been hatched illegally.

There is a real threat now of the disease spreading to other places since the farmers threw away the birds? carcasses before the outbreak came to light.

The current cool weather is an ally for the virus.

Phat instructed the two provinces to quickly quarantine and sterilize their infected areas, and others to maintain extreme vigilance.

He also directed local agencies to find out the cause of the outbreaks since there were no reports of recurrence in areas neighboring the two provinces.

If any new infections occurred, Phat warned, the local administrations would be held responsible.

No new cases were reported in the last 13 months in Vietnam while some 140 million poultry were vaccinated against H5N1.

Bird flu has been detected in more than 50 countries and 154 people have died.

In Vietnam 93 people have been infected by bird flu, with 42 fatalities reported since the disease first appeared in December 2003.

Source: Thanh Nien, Vietnamnet ? Compiled by Tuong Nhi

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Published: 19 December, 2006, 20:29:18 (GMT+7)
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**HenryN** · December 19, 2006, 11:09 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Commentary at

H5N1 Re-emerges in Southern Vietnam

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12190601/H5N1_Vietnam_2.html

Recombinomics Commentary

**HenryN** · December 20, 2006, 02:05 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

New bird flu outbreak in Vietnam

Vietnam has confirmed a lethal H5N1 bird flu outbreak among its domestic poultry in the south of the country.

Some 5,500 ducks and 500 chickens have died in the last two weeks in two provinces on the Mekong Delta, health ministry officials said.

The government said there was "an extremely high risk" of it spreading widely in the delta region.
Vietnam has been free of human cases of bird flu for a year, following a large culling and vaccination drive.
In the latest cases, all the poultry found dead were hatched illegally in the provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, health officials said.

"The risk of bird flu widely spreading in the Mekong delta is extremely high because farmers have thrown dead poultry into water channels for a long time," the Animal Health Department said in a report.
Bird flu first arrived in the Mekong delta in late 2003 and has since killed 42 people in the country.

As of 29 November 2006, the World Health Organization confirmed 258 cases of H5N1 in humans worldwide, leading to 154 deaths.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ic/6195545.stm

Published: 2006/12/20 03:05:40 GMT

**HenryN** · December 20, 2006, 02:09 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Bird flu hits Vietnam poultry, action slow
Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:38 AM IST

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has detected the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens and ducklings in two Mekong Delta provinces, the country's first infections since August, the Agriculture Ministry said.

The virus was found in more than 6,000 dead chickens and ducklings hatched more than a month ago but not vaccinated against bird flu, the ministry's Animal Health Department said in the report seen on Wednesday.

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat has criticised officials in the delta provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu for failing to deal with the outbreaks. Dead poultry were found in water channels early this month but the officials failed to report it to Hanoi.

The Animal Health Department said all the poultry found dead had been hatched illegally and tests had confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus.

"The risk of bird flu widely spreading in the Mekong Delta is extremely high because farmers have thrown dead poultry into water channels for a long time," it said.

In January 2005, bird flu killed a Vietnamese boy in the Mekong Delta after he swam in a channel where people had dumped infected poultry.

Temperatures were falling in the southern region incorporating the delta, which would also help the spread of a virus that thrives best in cooler temperatures.

Vietnam has been free of human bird flu cases since late 2005. In August, it found the H5N1 virus on a small duck farm in the delta province of Ben Tre.

An H5 subtype avian flu virus resurfaced in Vietnam earlier this year, mainly in ducks and wild storks.

Bird flu first arrived in the delta in late 2003 and has since killed 42 of the 93 people infected in the country, a human death toll second only to Indonesia's 57, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The global health body says bird flu has killed 154 people out of 258 infected globally since late 2003.

Experts fear the virus could muTate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans and spark an influenza pandemic that would kill millions.

On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Phat urged provincial authorities to raise breeders' awareness to help detect any infection early, carry out protective measures and avoid the disposal or sale of dead poultry when an outbreak was found.

Health officials fear complacency given the absence of bird flu infections in recent months, particularly as Vietnam enters the holiday season which extends to the Lunar New Year festival in February when poultry consumption often peaks.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/new...archived=False

**HenryN** · December 20, 2006, 02:44 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Commentary at

H5N1 Migration Into Southern Vietnam

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12200601/H5N1_Vietnam_Migration.html

Recombinomics Commentary

**gsgs** · December 20, 2006, 05:02 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

so, you think, it's Qinghai ?

Well, let's see how long they manage to keep it secret...

**Sally Furniss** · December 20, 2006, 05:27 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Commentary

H5N1 Migration Into Southern Vietnam
Recombinomics Commentary
December 20, 2006

Dead poultry were found in water channels early this month but the officials failed to report it to Hanoi.

An H5 subtype avian flu virus resurfaced in Vietnam earlier this year, mainly in ducks and wild storks.

Bird flu first arrived in the delta in late 2003.

The above comments again highlight the relationship of the 2003/2004 explosion of H5N1 in Asia to the current outbreak. H5N1 was initially detected in South Korea and Vietnam in December 2003, which was followed by major outbreaks throughout China as well as Japan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Human cases were reported in early 2004 in Vietnam and Thailand, followed by human cases in China, Cambodia, and Indonesia in 2005.

The strong linkage to wild birds was provided last year when the Qinghai strain of H5N1 was found in long range migratory birds at Qinghai Lake. This strain was readily disguished from Asia stains, although it shared many polymorphisms with H5N1 isolated in South Korea and Japan in 2003/2004. It also had Asia low path polymorphisms as well as low path and swine polymorphisms found in Europe.

The Qinghai stain was easily identified by its novel cleavage site GERRRKKR as well as PB2 E627K, which was found in H5N1 from a bird for the first time at Qinghai Lake. This strain had the usual property of causing fatal infections in waterfowl, and therefore was easily traced by a path of dead wild and domestic waterfowl. This spread was subsequently detected in Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia in the summer of 2005 followed by spread to India, Afghanistan, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. None of these areas had previously reported Asian H5N1 and all reported the Qinghai strain.

However, sequence analysis indicates avian influenza has been transported and transmitted by wild birds in general, and that distribution includes eastern Asia. In 2002 and 2003 new polymorphisms flew into Hong Kong, which served as a monitor for H5N1 spread in the region. the timing of the outbreaks in late 2003 / early 2004 coincided with wild bird migration coupled with cooler temperatures which stabilized the virus. The current H5N1 in north China trace back to low path avian influenza in Hong Kong in the mid to late 1970's and many of the sequences in northern china are linked to tree sparrow sequences from 2004 as well as Qinghai sequences recombined with Fujian sequences which trace back to ducks smuggled into Taiwan from Fujian province in late 2003 also.

The latest outbreak in Vietnam again points toward migration of H5N1 into the area. Details on the sequence of these new isolates would be useful.

**Gert van der Hoek** · December 20, 2006, 05:34 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Some mnore details:

Bird flu epidemic appearing again in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu

16:41' 20/12/2006 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge ? One year after Vietnam declared it had controlled the bird flu epidemic, the epidemic has recurred in two southern provinces of Vietnam, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu.

An official from the Vietnam Veterinary Department said that bird flu had been discovered in five duck breeding households in three hamlets in Vinh Binh Commune, Hoa Binh district, Bac Lieu province.

3,550 units in the herd of 4,450 ducks were discovered dead on the day. The ducks were one month old, illegally hatched and not vaccinated.

Prior to that, on December 6, bird flu was found at Rach Lum B hamlet, Khanh **** commune, Tran Van Thoi district, and has killed 490 chickens and 2,033 ducks.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2006/12/645997/

**Gert van der Hoek** · December 20, 2006, 05:35 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Snip from Bloomberg:

snip

Though some test results in August from a flock of ducks in Ben Tre province in southern Vietnam were positive for the H5 avian influenza subtype, the cases weren't reported as a new outbreak because the ducks ``didn't have any clinical signs at all and didn't die,'' Nam said.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601203&sid=aQhLtfachy8o&refer=insurance

**HenryN** · December 20, 2006, 06:13 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Originally posted by gsgs

so, you think, it's Qinghai ?

Well, let's see how long they manage to keep it secret...

The are several strains in wild birds. The tree sparrows were one example.

Qinghai seems to be more common in the north and points west of China.

**gsgs** · December 20, 2006, 06:16 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

> Temperatures were falling in the southern region incorporating the delta, which would
> also help the spread of a virus that thrives best in cooler temperatures.

temperature in Hanoi or Hong Kong showed a decline end Nov/start Dec

there was another decline recently on Dec.17 which by that timescale would suggest
other outbreaks in that region or south to it by about Jan 7th

OK, let's check the weather :

sharp declines in temperature:

Code:

Kurgan : Nov.26
Novosibirsk:Oct24,Nov28,Dec11
Tehran : Nov.07 , Nov 21
Volgograd : Nov 28
Latvia : Oct 29
Odessa : Nov 06
Hanoi:Dec03,Dec11
Ho Chi Minh:Dec18
Hong Kong:Dec02,Dec18
Changchun:(Nov07),Dec17
UlanBator:Nov27
Baku:Nov09

add 20 days for a potential birdflu outbreak south to that region

**Sally Furniss** · December 20, 2006, 04:11 PM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Vietnam Finds First Poultry Bird Flu Outbreak in 2006 (Update1)

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601203&sid=aQhLtfachy8o&refer=insurance

By Jason Folkmanis and Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam's government detected the country's first outbreak of avian influenza in poultry since last year, with thousands of chickens and ducks dying in the southern Mekong Delta.

More than 3,500 ducks in the province of Bac Lieu and more than 2,000 ducks in Ca Mau province have died, according to a report by the animal health department of Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Almost 500 chickens also died in Ca Mau, according to the report on the ministry's Web site today.

The outbreak is the first confirmed in Vietnam since December 2005, according to Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the animal health department. The country's ability to stem avian influenza, after the Southeast Asian nation was one of the hardest hit by the disease in 2004, has won international praise.

During a November visit, U.S. President George W. Bush ``praised Vietnam's timely, effective, and transparent response to avian influenza,'' according to a Nov. 17 statement. Bush called Vietnam's efforts ``a model for the region.''

The World Health Organization hasn't confirmed a case of infection from the deadly H5N1 strain in humans in Vietnam since last year. Vietnam has had the most confirmed human bird flu cases and the second-highest number of fatalities after Indonesia, according to the organization. Bird flu has killed at least 154 people since late 2003, the organization said.

Vietnam's success in fighting bird flu resulted from the government placing a high priority on the issue; a successful vaccination program; and continued surveillance and testing, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said earlier this month.

Not Immediate

The latest outbreak is the first ``in our country after almost a year of successfully controlling the disease,'' according to the animal health department, which said that farmers didn't immediately report the incident to authorities.

The outbreaks in Bac Lieu and Ca Mau took place almost two weeks ago, said Nam.

``Farmers don't want to report to local animal health offices when their ducks die,'' said Diep Chan Ben, deputy director of Bac Lieu's department for agriculture and rural development.

Local authorities in Ca Mau plan to cull the entire flocks of chickens and ducks where the H5N1 virus was discovered, said Chau Thi Kim Tuyen, deputy head of the Ca Mau animal health office.

Local authorities will be held responsible if outbreaks aren't detected quickly, according to the animal health department report.

The latest outbreaks resulted in part from ``the neglect of local animal health officials and farmers in not maintaining the vaccination program,'' said Nam of the national animal health department in Hanoi. ``They thought the disease had gone away.''

Though some test results in August from a flock of ducks in Ben Tre province in southern Vietnam were positive for the H5 avian influenza subtype, the cases weren't reported as a new outbreak because the ducks ``didn't have any clinical signs at all and didn't die,'' Nam said.

**Gert van der Hoek** · December 21, 2006, 06:00 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Another bird flu attack

17:21' 21/12/2006 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - While concern and fear spread over the faces of hard-working farmers, chickens freely run around poultry yards.

This is what we observed on the morning of 12/20 in Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, the two provinces where bird flu again has reared its ugly head.

After arriving in Ca Mau, we received another piece of news: two more hamlets in Khanh **** Village, Tran Van Thoi Town (Ca Mau Province), informed authorities of large-scale poultry deaths. The story on bird flu is getting bigger and bigger every hour.

At the crack of dawn yesterday, officials of Ca Mau Province and Tran Van Thoi Town went down to Rach Lum B Hamlet (Khanh **** Village, Tran Van thoi Town).

The areas to be isolated and sanitised were the two villages of Rach Lum A and Rach Lum B; about 20,000 chickens were to be killed. But not until 10 A.M were local residents informed of the new decree through the village loudspeaker. Village officials were perplexed, not knowing where to start.

Finally, Mr. Nguyen Dong Khoi, the head of Tran Van Thoi Village, gave an order: ?officials will divide into teams, which will mobilise farmers and kill chickens. First, we have to persuade farmers to kill their chickens voluntarily. Any one who isn?t persuaded must be forced to do so.?

Thus, more than 30 officials from the village, town and province as well as the local militia ?took action.? I followed the team of officials who went to kill Mr. Luu Phe Bich?s ducks on the other side of the river.

Mr. Bich?s flock, numbering 850 ducks, was the largest one in the hamlet, and had been dying for the past month. The other day when he heard the news that his ducks had tested positive for the bird flu virus, Mr. Bich led his ducks out to the fields, leaving them there for fear of contagion.

So the ducks had been dispersing all directions. The whole team thus had to work hard for 3 hours just to find 26 ducks looking half dead, half alive.

Other farmers were more difficult to deal with. They did not allow officials to kill their poultry, explaining, ?Nobody has ever said anything to me.? Some farmers disputed fiercely with officials.

Others said resentfully, ?the ducks over there; take them.? The result of the process of stamping out this epidemic until 12.35 A.M yesterday was only 27/13.000. 13.000 was the total number of poultry at Rach Lum B Village.

Farmers dizzy with concern

In the meantime, in Bac Lieu Province, on 12/19, the rest of the infected flocks at Hamlet 17, 19 and Ke Phong, which numbered 1,356 ducks, were killed. On the morning of 12/19, a vet team from the province and town investigated the burial holes.

While the team was still busy investigating, nearby, at Mr. Ly Thanh ****?s farm at Hamlet 17, Vinh Binh Village, many of his 1,200 ducks had died, and some of them were on the verge of death.

Most of the poor people in provinces along the Mekong Delta in general, and in Bac Lieu Province in particular, are attached to a few acres of farmland and several poultry flocks which are their sole means of living.

After being attacked time and time again by brown plant-lice and rice-leaf worms, farmers now have to fight bird flu. Mrs. Chị Nguyễn Thị Tuyết said in tears, ?my family?s field is small, and this year we had a poor crop. So the whole family depends on the ducks.

But now bird flu comes, our ducks all died, and we have to glean rice to sell for everyday subsistence.? Being stuck in the same boat, Mr. L? Thanh H?ng sighed, ?when poor farmers like us face bird flu, we only become poorer.?

According to Mr. Diệp Chấn Ben, the vice director of Bac Lieu Province?s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the flocks dying of the disease had been raised illegally. Mr. Nguyễn Ph?c T?i, chairman of Bac Lieu Province? s Veterinary Board, said that though hamlet residents have bred poultry in breeding farms, ducks running in the fields are still common.

Because field ducks multiply fast and frequently run from one field to another looking for rice, it is very difficult for the vet force and local authorities to keep track of them. Bac Lieu Province now has over 1.2 million heads of poultry, including about 740,000 ducks. Mr. T?i said with concern, ?though these flocks are raised illegally, we should still compensate farmers.

If not, they would hesitate to kill infected poultry. That?s why when killing poultry we have to keep a record of dates and farmers? personal information to notify the Provincial People?s Committee.?

Restarting anti-epidemic committees

In an interview with Tuoi Tre yesterday afternoon, 12/20, Mr. Ho?ng Văn Năm, vice chairman of the Vet Board (the Deparment of Agriculture and Rural Department), said his office received bird flu reports from Bac Lieu and Ca Mau?s Vet Boards precisely two weeks after the first case was discovered in the two hamlets mentioned above.

Local and responsible authorities have implemented anti-epidemic methods such as killing diseased poultry, isolating infected areas, and spraying sanitary medicine throughout these areas.

However, he warned that the?possibility of bird flu spreading to other provinces on the Mekong Delta is very high.? The reason is that according to Mr. Nam, local farmers killed poultry and threw the corpses into canals. These corpses remained there for quite a long time (5-7 days).

Thus, it is likely that the virus has spread. Moreover, winter is coming, which provides the virus with favorable conditions to multiply and spread.

On 12/19, the head of the Ministry of A & RD as well as of the national committee on bird flu prevention, Mr, Cao Duc Thang, issued a decree requesting local communities to implement systemic prevention methods.

The decree requested the chairmen of People?s Committees at the province and city levels, as well as department officials to restart the operation of anti-epidemic committees at all levels; organise weekly meetings to update information; uniform management; prepare necessary forces; and discover early infection cases to stamp out quickly.

According to Mr. Nam, right after bird flu started, his board immediately restarted the 24/24 hot line to receive information. The hot line number is: 04-8.685.104.

HCM City: Strengthen bird flu prevention operation

Mr. Huỳnh Hữu Lợi, the chairman of the HCM city Vet Board, said that in order to deal with the bird flu epidemic in Western provinces, the Vet Board has requested animal sanitary inspection stations at border areas to tighten the inspection of poultry traffic into the city, especially the traffic coming from the Western region.

Vet inspectors strengthen the inspection of poultry preservation freezers, egg barns at markets as well as and poultry sales on the market...In addition, district vet stations will strengthen the inspection of sanitary conditions at breeding households in Cu Chi and Hoc Mon?..

(Source: Tuoi tre)

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2006/12/646365/

**Gert van der Hoek** · December 21, 2006, 06:20 AM

Re: Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry

Bird flu outbreak spreads in Vietnam's Mekong Delta

Thu 21 Dec 2006 10:57:32 GMT

HANOI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Vietnam's first outbreak of bird flu since August has spread to four more areas in the Mekong Delta, where nearly 8,300 birds have been killed by the virus or slaughtered to hold it back, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Three outbreaks spotted between Dec. 11 and Dec. 20 in Ca Mau province killed over 2,500 chickens and ducks, while one in neighbouring Bac Lieu province killed dozens of ducks, the ministry's Animal Health Department said in a report on Thursday.

The outbreaks of the H5N1 virus were the first in Vietnam since August. The initial eruptions killed around 6,000 newly hatched chickens and ducklings that were not vaccinated against bird flu.

Farmers have since thrown dead birds into water channels or let ducks roam on rice fields, helping spread the virus that first arrived in the Delta in late 2003 and has since killed 42 of the 93 people infected in Vietnam.

Vietnam, which has had no human bird flu cases since late 2005, has a human death toll second only to Indonesia's 57, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO says bird flu has killed 154 people out of 258 infected globally since late 2003.

Vietnamese animal health officials said on Wednesday that temperatures were falling in the southern region incorporating the delta, which would help the spread of a virus that thrives best in cooler temperatures.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans and spark an influenza pandemic that would kill millions.

The Mekong Delta outbreaks caused health officials in nearby Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city, to tighten inspection of poultry and step up monitoring of breeding farms, state media reported on Thursday.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=HAN131133