Ducks die en mass in Vietnam's central highland province

[yielddude]

Ducks die en mass in Vietnam's central highland province
Hundreds of ducks in Vietnam's central highland Lam Dong province have died with unidentified causes, Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday.

The ducks in a farm in Duc Trong district have died with symptoms of head and eye oedema, and diarrhea. Local veterinary agency has slaughtered all the flock of 4,000 ducks to prevent bird flu.

The disease is likely to return Vietnam in October when weather conditions favor the development of bird flu viruses, according to the Department of Animal Health under the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Bird flu outbreaks, starting in Vietnam in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls. The last outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the country was in December 2005, according to the ministry.

Source: Xinhua
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/20/eng20061020_313613.html

 

[Sharpe]

Re: Ducks die en mass in Vietnam's central highland province

Head edema and "immobility" likely indicate encephalitis. Diarrhea and encephalitis, for an unknown reason, appear to go together in bird flu. The same combination was noted in a Vietnamese boy who died that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=21286
Ducks culled in central Vietnam for unidentifiable disease


Some 4,000 ducks that had contracted an unknown disease were culled Thursday in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the local animal health department reported.

The department staff killed the 70-day-old poultry in Lam Dong?s Duc Trong District as they were bloated, immobile, found to be thiamine deficient, had tearing eyes and were passing white feces.

Earlier, some 800 ducks of the same flock had died, of which over 300 died in just one day.

The animal department conducted tests of the ducks but could not nail down the type or cause of the disease.

The owner of the flock, Huynh Ngoc Thanh, admitted buying the newly-born ducks from a dubious source in Ho Chi Minh City.

The ducks has also been raised without being vaccinated, the department added.