Vietnam finds bird flu in poultry for second time this month

[ukcz]

Vietnam finds bird flu in poultry for second time this month
Saturday August 26, 2006

HANOI (AP) - Bird flu has been detected in Vietnamese poultry for the second time this month, igniting fears of a possible resurgence of the H5N1 virus in the country that has been touted for beating it back, officials said Saturday.

The virus was found in one duck in the southern Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, Mai Van Hiep, director of the provincial animal health bureau said, adding it was among eight samples taken from a farm of 45 ducks in Thanh Phu town.

All the ducks, none of which showed any sign of bird flu symptoms, were destroyed Saturday morning after the test result came back two days ago, Hiep said.

The farm and surrounding areas were disinfected, he added.
Earlier this month, the bird flu virus was also detected in two ducks and two geese in random testing in Thanh Phu town in the same province.
Hiep said more than 300 samples of poultry were taken for testing so far this year, and five tested positive for bird flu.

"The infected ducks are still healthy,'' Hiep said.

"It was a big problem for us to control the virus from spreading.''

The government imposed a ban on hatching and raising water fowl, which can carry the virus without showing symptoms.

However, the ban was largely ignored by farmers.

There is an estimated 50 million to 70 million water fowl in the country.

"The results of surveillance recently showed that a highly virulent bird flu virus is circulating in the water fowl, particularly in the water fowl which were not vaccinated,'' the Animal Health Department said on its Web site.

"The risk of bird flu resurgence in coming time therefore is very high, particularly in provinces of high poultry density,'' it said.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung put the nation on high alert after new flare-ups were reported in neighboring countries.

Dung had urged local governments to tighten control along the land borders to prevent poultry from being smuggled into the country.

Vietnam had not reported any bird flu outbreaks in poultry this year and no human cases since November.

The country, which has logged 42 human deaths, had largely controlled the spread of the virus through a strong political commitment and a mass vaccination campaign.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 141 people worldwide, and experts fear it could mutate into a form that becomes easily passed among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/8/26/apworld/20060826123745&sec=apworld

 

[kr105]

Re: Vietnam finds bird flu in poultry for second time this month

Vietnam finds H5N1 virus on duck farm
28 Aug 2006 02:55:46 GMT
Source: Reuters


HANOI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Vietnam, which has been free of human bird flu cases this year, has found the H5N1 virus on a small duck farm, animal health officials said on Monday.

The discovery was made in the southern province of Ben Tre as neighbouring countries Laos, China and Thailand have all reported new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus in recent weeks.

"We have received laboratory confirmation that the ducks had the H5N1 virus," an animal health official from Thach Phu district, Ben Tre province, said by telephone.

He said all 84 ducks on the farm were immediately culled on Saturday. Ducks in 14 nearby farms were also tested for the virus, but the results were all negative. No one in nearby villages was sick from the infected birds, the official said.

The source of the virus was unknown. "What we know so far is that the ducks were raised in a closed farm and had not been let out in the open for quite sometime," the official said.

A H5 subtype resurfaced in Vietnam in the past month, mainly in ducks and wild storks, but the Southeast Asian country has had no human infections of H5N1 since December.

Public health officials have told countries such as Vietnam that although the virus remains essentially an animal disease, it can return at any time and could spark a pandemic if it mutates into a form that can pass easily among people.

Indonesia overtook Vietnam earlier this month as the country with the most human deaths by avian flu. Indonesia has reported 46 deaths and Vietnam 42 since the virus re-emerged in late 2003.

Worldwide, 141 people have been killed, the U.N.'s World Health Organisation said.

 

[Harriet]

Re: INDONESIA - 35F BF suspect from Northern Sumatra

Re: INDONESIA - 35F BF suspect from Northern Sumatra

The Vietnamese health found the Bird Flu Virus in Duck Livestock Breeding

Hanoi -- MIOL: Vietnam, that this year was free the spread of bird flu to humankind, found the virus H5N1 in a small scale duck livestock breeding, said the official of the health of this country, on Monday.

This case was found in the southern part province of Ben Tre, that shared a border with Laos, China and Thailand recently.

"We accepted confirmation from the laboratory that ducks there were affected by the virus H5N1," he said.
He said 84 poultries were in this livestock breeding destroyed, on Saturday.
Ducks in 14 closest livestock breedings also underwent the inspection, but results of the negative.

"There was no poultry in the closest village that was infected by bird flu, said the official who did not want to state his name."

"That was known by us as far as this is concerned was the ducks was bred in a livestock breeding was closed and had never been brought went out," he said.
The sub-type of the virus H5 in Vietnam in the previous month generally was gotten to the duck and the wild heron, but since December 2005 was not yet found by the spread against humankind.

The officials of the health warned that despite the virus still among the animal, but from time to time could cause some pandemik if the virus bermutasi to the form that could spread easily among humankind.
In the meantime Indonesia early of this month passed Vietnam in the number of cases of the death to humankind resulting from bird flu.
As many as 46 cases of the death were recorded in Indonesia, whereas Vietnam 42 cases since the plague emerged in 2003.

The total all over the world, according to the WHO report totalling 141 people died resulting from the virus.