August 28, 2008

A strain of the deadly H5N1 virus that posed a high risk of infecting humans and caused a bird flu epidemic in China has been discovered in smuggled poultry in Vietnam, the Animal Health Department said.

Bui Quang Anh, head of the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development's Animal Health Department said that the infection mechanism of this highly infectious strain of the H5N1 virus, named seven, had not been found so far.

Nguyen Van Cam, the director of the Central Animal Diagnosis Centre, said the centre is currently studying more about the strain in the infected poultry and will soon know the results.

The bird flu strain that has typically appeared in the Mekong Delta has been strain one, while the Red River Delta has seen strain two, three and four with unknown infection mechanisms.

Anh warned of the high infection rate among poultry, particularly in Mekong Delta provinces. To prevent the strain from spreading, 242 million doses of H5N1 vaccines and 15 million doses of H5N2 vaccines have been distributed to the localities, according to the department.

From the total vaccine around 76.5 percent of the total poultry population in Vietnam will be vaccinated.

Vietnam has so far reported four H5N1 human infections and all of patients died after hospitalization so far this year, raising the country's total infections and deaths since November 2003 to 105 and 51, respectively.