Outbreaks of bird flu fan fears of new spread
New outbreaks of bird flu in Thailand and Laos are fanning fears the disease is flaring up again in Asia, although concerns the virus is mutating in Indonesia have subsided.
Darren Schuettler
Friday, August 04, 2006
New outbreaks of bird flu in Thailand and Laos are fanning fears the disease is flaring up again in Asia, although concerns the virus is mutating in Indonesia have subsided.
Experts in Vietnam, where the H5N1 virus has killed 42 people, worry it will be the next country to see a re- emergence of the disease after a seven- month lull.
And there were signs Thursday bird flu may be spreading into central Thailand after outbreaks in the north and northeast exposed weaknesses in the country's defenses against a virus known to have killed 134 people.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization urged governments to be vigilant against the virus still circulating in poultry three years after it swept across much of Asia.
"Countries in the region are doing their best, but there are limited resources available where animal health surveillance is concerned," said FAO spokeswoman Aphaluk Bhatiasevi.
But concerns about a cluster of human cases in Indonesia eased after preliminary tests cleared six people in the province of North Sumatra of bird flu.
The group lived in the same district where as many as seven members of an extended family died from bird flu in May, but tests showed they had common flu.
Such cases fan fears the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people, even though there is no evidence that it has happened yet.
Indonesia, where the virus has killed another 42 people, has been criticized for not doing enough to fight the disease endemic in birds in about two-thirds of the country's provinces.
The government has shunned mass culling, citing a lack of money for compensation and impracticality in a country with millions of backyard fowl.
In Vietnam, where the government has fought the virus by vaccinating millions of birds, officials said a failure to control its waterfowl flocks made it vulnerable.
The number of ducks, which can be "silent carriers" of the virus, and other waterfowl has doubled to more than eight million since February despite a government ban on waterfowl hatching.
"We are unable to control the waterfowl stock," Agriculture Ministry Husbandry Department head Nguyen Dang Vang told the Vanguard newspaper. Adding to the risk, wild birds believed to carry H5N1 will soon migrate from the north.
Worried about the region's defenses, a senior FAO official was dispatched to Laos this week to assess its surveillance efforts after bird flu was found last month on a farm south of the capital Vientiane, its first outbreak since 2004. He will do the same next week.
Thai officials have vowed to close the gaps and assist their neighbours in fending off the virus. But that effort suffered a setback when Laos abruptly canceled a bird flu meeting with Thai officials in Vientiane scheduled for Thursday.
REUTERS
New outbreaks of bird flu in Thailand and Laos are fanning fears the disease is flaring up again in Asia, although concerns the virus is mutating in Indonesia have subsided.
Darren Schuettler
Friday, August 04, 2006
New outbreaks of bird flu in Thailand and Laos are fanning fears the disease is flaring up again in Asia, although concerns the virus is mutating in Indonesia have subsided.
Experts in Vietnam, where the H5N1 virus has killed 42 people, worry it will be the next country to see a re- emergence of the disease after a seven- month lull.
And there were signs Thursday bird flu may be spreading into central Thailand after outbreaks in the north and northeast exposed weaknesses in the country's defenses against a virus known to have killed 134 people.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization urged governments to be vigilant against the virus still circulating in poultry three years after it swept across much of Asia.
"Countries in the region are doing their best, but there are limited resources available where animal health surveillance is concerned," said FAO spokeswoman Aphaluk Bhatiasevi.
But concerns about a cluster of human cases in Indonesia eased after preliminary tests cleared six people in the province of North Sumatra of bird flu.
The group lived in the same district where as many as seven members of an extended family died from bird flu in May, but tests showed they had common flu.
Such cases fan fears the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people, even though there is no evidence that it has happened yet.
Indonesia, where the virus has killed another 42 people, has been criticized for not doing enough to fight the disease endemic in birds in about two-thirds of the country's provinces.
The government has shunned mass culling, citing a lack of money for compensation and impracticality in a country with millions of backyard fowl.
In Vietnam, where the government has fought the virus by vaccinating millions of birds, officials said a failure to control its waterfowl flocks made it vulnerable.
The number of ducks, which can be "silent carriers" of the virus, and other waterfowl has doubled to more than eight million since February despite a government ban on waterfowl hatching.
"We are unable to control the waterfowl stock," Agriculture Ministry Husbandry Department head Nguyen Dang Vang told the Vanguard newspaper. Adding to the risk, wild birds believed to carry H5N1 will soon migrate from the north.
Worried about the region's defenses, a senior FAO official was dispatched to Laos this week to assess its surveillance efforts after bird flu was found last month on a farm south of the capital Vientiane, its first outbreak since 2004. He will do the same next week.
Thai officials have vowed to close the gaps and assist their neighbours in fending off the virus. But that effort suffered a setback when Laos abruptly canceled a bird flu meeting with Thai officials in Vientiane scheduled for Thursday.
REUTERS