October 29, 2004

Vietnam Reports More Dead Fowls

800 chickens have been culled in the southern Long An province of Vietnam. The move follows the discovery of a number of dead fowls in the flock from Oct. 20 to 27.

Tests for bird flu viruses in the affected chickens are in progress, but results are not out as yet.

To prevent the spread of bird flu, the monitoring of transport and import of fowls and their eggs has been strengthened in Long An. The province, one of four southern localities suffering from the re-emergence of the deadly disease, has culled some 4,700 fowls after detecting more than 3,600 chickens infected with the disease since early this month.

Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 19, 6,590 chickens, 750 ducks and 2,000 quails in six communes in the provinces of Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Soc Trang were affected by bird flu, according to the Department of Animal Health.

In late March this year, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu, which had killed 17 percent of its poultry population since its previous outbreak last December. 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.