August 24, 2004

Vietnam's Veterinary Teams Join Fight Against Bird flu

Vietnam's Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Monday sent 12 special working teams to key provinces in the Red River delta, the Mekong delta and the border areas, to join force with the local authorities in tackling a recurrence of the bird flu.

The teams will inspect imports and exports of poultry and poultry products for seven to ten days, as well as the level of feed consumption of poultry raising farms. If the level is 20 percent lower than the normal level, samples from these farms will be tested.

The teams will also examine the disinfection of poultry breeding farms that are within a 3-km radius of an area where bird flu has recurred in addition to the erection of fences to safeguard poultry raising farms.

At border areas, the teams will check the quarantine of animals to be transported across the border.

It was reported that 10 out of the 11 provinces with re-emergence of bird flu have reported no new outbreak for 21 days. Therefore they can declare themselves free from the disease in line with the veterinary hygiene standard.

These provinces include the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and the Mekong delta provinces of Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Vinh Long, Can Tho and Long An.