June 25, 2005

Waterfowl flocks in Vietnam's central Quang Tri province have bird flu

About one-fifth of all waterfowl flocks in Vietnam's central Quang Tri province have been found with the bird flu virus strain H5N1. In response, the provincial Veterinarian Bureau has culled over 23,000 waterfowl, mainly ducks, in the 38 infected flocks. It will continue the culling if the other 144 untested flocks prove to bird flu positive as well.

Vietnam, which has not seen bird flu outbreaks since April, culled a flock of 6,700 chickens in southern Ben Tre province during June after specimens from 6,000 dead or sick poultry in the flock tested positive for H5N1.

An international team consisting of top virologists and epidemiologists from Chinese Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, arrived in Vietnam on June 6 to study the possibility of more widespread H5N1 human transmission, changes in the virus strain, and the likelihood of increased person-to-person transmission.

WHO representative Hans Troedsson said that the situation in Vietnam right now actually has public health implications for the rest of the world, and the grave possibility of a global pandemic.