July 26, 2004

11th Vietnamese Province Hit By Bird Flu

Vietnam's southern Long An province confirmed it had been stricken by bird flu, raising the total number of localities in the country being hit by the disease to 11.

Initial testing showed that chickens, which died en masses on July 19-20, were infected with H5 virus, the provincial Veterinary Bureau said on Monday, adding that further testing is being conducted in Australia.

Long An is now free of bird flu now, since all of more than 6,000 sick and healthy chickens raised in two farms in the province have been culled, the bureau noted.

It has called for local farmers to register their fowl numbers to facilitate the control of poultry and potential outbreaks in the province. In return, the farmers will enjoy greater financial assistance in case of their fowls are affected by bird flu.

As of July 23, bird flu reoccurred in 10 southern localities of Vietnam, including the city of Can Tho and the provinces of Bac Lieu, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Kien Giang and Ben Tre, killing or led to the forced culling of more than 40,000 poultry. All the new outbreaks are detected in small-scale farms which have not taken full preventive measures.

Bird flu has killed 17 percent of its poultry population, and claimed 16 human lives since its outbreak in December 2003 in Vietnam. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing the local poultry industry to suffer direct losses of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million US dollars).