February 4, 2005

Vietnam seeks UN help for bird flu

Vietnam has appealed to UN agencies to help it fight a raging bird flu outbreak that has killed 12 people in the communist country over the past five weeks, officials said Thursday.

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat sent a letter Wednesday to the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization asking that experts be sent in to help Vietnamese specialists map out a plan of action to control the disease's spread, said ministry official Nguyen Quoc Dat.

"Last year, we asked the international community to help fight the bird flu and received their effective assistance," he said "We hope to get the same thing this year."

Vietnam continues to be the worst bird flu hit country with 12 deaths since Dec. 30. Outbreaks have been reported in poultry stocks nationwide, forcing the culling of more than 1 million birds since the start of this year, Dat said.

The WHO's biggest concern is that the virus may mutate into a form easily spread from person-to-person, potentially sparking a global pandemic. Most cases so far have been traced to sick poultry, and there is no evidence that the disease has altered.

The European Commission in Vietnam on Tuesday announced it was providing US$782,100 to buy equipment and emergency preparedness kits for patient care and to assist health care workers.

A Cambodian woman died from the virus at a Vietnamese hospital on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 45 people from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia over the past year.

Last year, Vietnam banned the sale and transport of poultry prior to the busy Lunar New Year when millions of people and birds are on the move. No such restrictions have been put in place this year before the Tet holiday, which starts next week.

The country has taken some measures to ensure sick poultry do not reach busy markets. Checkpoints have been set up outside all major cities to verify that birds have been inspected and come from areas free of outbreaks.

However, Thursday's Labor newspaper reported that a ban placed on the transport of poultry coming from four hard-hit provinces has been lifted, after no new outbreaks were reported in the 21-day quarantine period set by law.