August 17, 2004

Vietnam Claims No New Bird Flu Case In Last 15 Days

There were no more bird flu cases reported in the last 15 days since the latest one that killed 3,447 quail in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang was detected on August 2, the Vietnamese Veterinarian Department reported.

The department head, Bui Quang Anh, told a press briefing on Monday that the deadly disease has been partially controlled since late July as the number of outbreaks reduced from 16 during the July 9-25 period to just seven from July 26 until now.  The diseased areas also decreased from 14 villages or precincts in 13 districts from eight provinces to just seven farmer families in seven communes of five districts from four provinces.

The number of culled birds also decreased from over 24,270 to almost 4,230, the briefing, which was held by the National Steering Board for Bird Flu Control, was reported.

There were evidence that human beings may contract the disease from infected poultry but in what way is not yet clear, and there are no cases that the disease has been transmitted from infected human being to healthy human being, said Nguyen Van Binh, Deputy Head of the Preventive Medicine Department.

Three of the eight people who died of pneumonia in Vietnam had caught the H5 virus, Binh said and warned that the risk of the epidemic is still very high as viruses remain in the environment.

Disinfection would continue while scientific measures would be strictly taken to ensure absolute hygiene poultry culling to prevent a recurrence of the disease, acting Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat emphasised.

He also asked the Ministry of Health to supply preventive drugs to those people who are engaged in the fight against bird flu at the grassroots level.

The head of the Veterinarian Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Quang Anh, rejected some foreign sources' allegation that Viet Nam was hiding news on bird flu. He affirmed that epidemic developments are regularly updated in the mass media as well as international bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation.