May 7, 2007

Bird flu resurfaces in central Vietnam's poultry

Bird flu has struck poultry in central Vietnam, just one month after the last outbreak in the South-east Asian country, an official said Sunday (May 6).

Nearly 200 ducks died Tuesday at a private farm in the central province of Nghe An. Test results released by a government laboratory in the area show they were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, said Nguyen Xuan Yem, director of Nghe An's animal health department.

The ducks had not been vaccinated, Yem said.

Authorities have slaughtered the remaining 400 ducks at the farm and disinfected the area. Control over movement and trading of poultry has been tightened, he said.

The last bird flu outbreak was reported last month in northern Vietnam. Before that, the country went without reporting a bird flu outbreak for a year until the disease killed and forced the slaughter of about 40,000 birds in eight southern Mekong Delta provinces since January.