February 15, 2005

 

 

No new bird flu cases in Vietnam, but WHO warns against complacency

 

No new cases of deadly bird flu were reported in Vietnam over last week's New Year festivities. But the World Health Organisation warned both the country and the international community against complacency.

 

"It seems that we did not see the increase in the number of cases that we were worried about," said Hans Troedsson, WHO director in Vietnam.

"But what we really need now is to work on the long term."

 

It had been feared the disease, which has killed 13 people in Vietnam since late December, could spread over the weeklong holiday because chicken dishes are popular and the transport of poultry increases.

 

But the number of provinces battling the disease has actually decreased, an agriculture official said Monday, and no additional human cases were reported.

 

"The situation is much better compared to the days before New Year," said Bui Quang Anh, head of the agriculture ministry's animal health department.

 

Seven of the country's 34 provinces and cities that were fighting the disease had not registered any new cases in poultry for 21 days, he said.

 

Four people who had been admitted to Hanoi's Bach Mai hospital with the disease had been discharged, he added.

 

"Thanks to these good results, we will keep doing our best to control the epidemic in February or March by maintaining the strict prevention measures already in force," Anh said.

 

Since the start of the latest outbreak, more than 1.5 million birds have been killed by the disease or destroyed to try to stop the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Twelve people died in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam during an initial outbreak in late 2003 and 2004. Another 13 died in Vietnam since the end of December including a Cambodian woman.

 

Troedsson said that while the current prevention and monitoring measures were working well and should be maintained, the long-term battle against the deadly virus is only starting.

 

"It is mainly an agricultural issue. Not only it is a matter of getting rid of the virus but also to change the structure of the poultry production," he said. "If we don't do it and if we get complacent, I promise you we will see it happening again in six months or one year."

 

Experts say avian influenza has entrenched itself in much of Asia and is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

 

"What is happening this year is not an outbreak, it is an endemic recurrence of a disease that is here to stay," Anton Rychener, representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said last week.

 

A regional meeting discussing the fight against the virus will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from February 23 to 25 under the sponsorship of the United Nations, FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health.