Bird flu resurfaces in southern Vietnam
The Associated PressPublished: March 1, 2007
HANOI, Vietnam: Bird flu has resurfaced in a southern Vietnamese province, just days after an outbreak was reported in the northern part of the country, officials said Thursday.
The latest outbreak occurred in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, just two weeks after authorities declared that previous outbreaks there and in seven other southern provinces had been contained.
About 50 unvaccinated ducks died at a farm in Tra On District on February 25, and test results released Thursday showed they were infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Nguyen Ba Thanh, director of the Mekong regional animal health center.
The birds had been transported from neighboring Soc Trang province to forage on leftover grains of rice from a recently harvested field, a common practice in the region that has helped fuel the spread of the bird flu.
The outbreak has forced authorities to slaughter 800 ducklings, Thanh said.
"It is very likely that a bigger outbreak will occur, as there are still unvaccinated ducks in all provinces in the region," Thanh said.
On Monday, another outbreak was reported in the northern province of Hai Duong.
Vietnam went an entire year without any confirmed reports of bird flu until a recent spate of outbreaks struck Vinh Long and seven other southern provinces in January, killing or forcing the slaughter of about 40,000 birds.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed at least 167 people worldwide, including 42 in Vietnam, since it began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
Vietnam has not reported any cases of bird flu in humans since 2005, but human cases were reported this week in the neighboring countries of China and Laos.
The virus remains hard for people to catch, but experts worry that it might mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, potentially igniting a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/01/asia/AS-GEN-Vietnam-Bird-flu.php
The Associated PressPublished: March 1, 2007
HANOI, Vietnam: Bird flu has resurfaced in a southern Vietnamese province, just days after an outbreak was reported in the northern part of the country, officials said Thursday.
The latest outbreak occurred in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, just two weeks after authorities declared that previous outbreaks there and in seven other southern provinces had been contained.
About 50 unvaccinated ducks died at a farm in Tra On District on February 25, and test results released Thursday showed they were infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Nguyen Ba Thanh, director of the Mekong regional animal health center.
The birds had been transported from neighboring Soc Trang province to forage on leftover grains of rice from a recently harvested field, a common practice in the region that has helped fuel the spread of the bird flu.
The outbreak has forced authorities to slaughter 800 ducklings, Thanh said.
"It is very likely that a bigger outbreak will occur, as there are still unvaccinated ducks in all provinces in the region," Thanh said.
On Monday, another outbreak was reported in the northern province of Hai Duong.
Vietnam went an entire year without any confirmed reports of bird flu until a recent spate of outbreaks struck Vinh Long and seven other southern provinces in January, killing or forcing the slaughter of about 40,000 birds.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed at least 167 people worldwide, including 42 in Vietnam, since it began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
Vietnam has not reported any cases of bird flu in humans since 2005, but human cases were reported this week in the neighboring countries of China and Laos.
The virus remains hard for people to catch, but experts worry that it might mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, potentially igniting a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/01/asia/AS-GEN-Vietnam-Bird-flu.php