September 15, 2004

More Ducks In Vietnam Infected With Bird Flu Virus

One more flock of ducks in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has been detected with the bird flu virus. The total number of infected flocks in the city is raised to 35, a local veterinary official said on Wednesday.

"Samples from the 35 flocks with a total of 34,900 ducks tested positive for the virus strain of H5, but all of the fowls are healthy," said Phan Xuan Thao, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City Veterinary Bureau.

The infected ducks are found in four urban and rural districts. However, the situation is getting more complicated because some raisers have tried to sell the infected fowls to other districts.

"A local farmer named Nguyen Van Liem in the district of Thu Duc sold 750 H5-positive ducks, which has forced us to keep track of them to take necessary preventive measures," Thao said.

He added that to prevent the spread of the bird flu virus, the bureau has isolated the infected flocks, and persuaded farmers to have their fowls culled.

421 households in the city presently raise over 881,000 poultry, 53 percent of which are quails, 32 percent chickens and 15 percent ducks.

Bird flu has either killed or led to the forced culling of 2,500 quails in the northern province of Hai Duong on Aug. 20, and around 100 chickens in the central province of Quang Tri on Aug. 19, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Health.

Vietnam is strengthening anti-bird flu measures such as disinfecting farms, monitoring the transport and import of fowls and their eggs, as well as raising public awareness of the disease. Specifically, the ministry is distributing some 10 tons of posters and leaflets on ways of preventing and detecting bird flu to all localities.

In late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu that had killed 17 percent of its poultry population. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing direct losses of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million US dollars) to the local poultry industry.