November 2, 2005

Vietnam steps up fight against bird flu
 

Vietnam has stepped up its fight against bird flu, banning raw blood pudding and the raising of poultry in big cities, state-controlled media reported Wednesday.

Vietnam has been hardest hit by bird flu, which began ravaging poultry farms in Asia in 2003, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 million birds. It has also jumped to humans, killing at least 62 people, mostly in Vietnam.

"From now on, processing and trading raw blood pudding from poultry and animals is strictly prohibited," the Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) quoted a directive from Prime Minister Phan Van Khai as saying.

Violators of the ban would be severely punished, the newspaper quoted the directive as saying. It did not elaborate.

Khai also ordered a ban on raising poultry in urban areas and urged authorities to raise awareness among people of the danger of bird flu, it said.

The prime minister also banned imports of poultry and pet birds from countries affected by bird flu, and urged border guards and customs officials to increase border patrols to ensure that no birds were smuggled into the country, the newspaper said.

Nhan Dan also reported that nearly 3,000 poultry had recently died suddenly in three villages in the northern province of Bac Giang, about 60 kilometres north-east of Hanoi. However, the birds tested negative for the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, it said.

Most human cases of bird flu have been traced to contact with sick poultry. But health experts feared the virus might mutate into a form that could be easily passed between people, possibly sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.

So far, there have been indications that the virus has changed.