February 11, 2013
Vietnam warns of new bird flu outbreak
An urgent warning of bird flu was issued by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) after the deadly disease was detected in Tay Ninh Province in late January.
Outbreaks were reported at two farms in Ben Cau district and Tay Ninh town. Tay Ninh borders Cambodia where four out of five H5N1 human cases were fatal in January 2013. MARD's concern is that large amounts of chickens are used during the lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. In addition, poor-quality chickens imported or smuggled from China have been a threat both to prices and food safety.
