June 18, 2007

Vietnam discovers bird flu near border China

Bird flu has spread to ducks and chickens near Vietnam's Cao Bang province, an area 30 kilometres away from the border of China, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday (June 15).

Sixteen localities have been affected in the province, the 18th bird flu casualty since it re-emerged in the country in May.

The ministry said tests confirmed the presence of H5N1 in a poultry farm near China's Guangxi province, which shares a 311 kilometres (195 miles) border with Vietnam.

The virus killed 87 ducks and chickens at a farm in Thong Nong district on June 11. All poultry on the farm were then destroyed.

On Tuesday, officials said two women, aged 28 and 29, had been infected by the H5N1 virus in the northern provinces of Thanh Hoa and Ha Nam. Four people have been found to be infected since May, the first human case after it has re-occurred this year.

The two women and an infected slaughterhouse worker are currently being treated in a Hanoi hospital.

Bird flu has killed 42 people out of 97 known infections in Vietnam since the virus re-emerged in Asia in late 2003. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has not confirmed the latest four infections.

Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed 191 people out of 312 known cases and millions of birds have either died or slaughtered, according to WHO.