November 8, 2005

Vietnamese concerned over chicken excrement to feed fish

Vietnamese residents in the southern province of Dong Nai have expressed concern, that local farmers were throwing at least 100 tonnes of chicken excrement each day into Tri An lake to feed fish. The lake's waters in turn flowed into Dong Nai river.

Le Hoang Sang, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute, said this practice was "extremely dangerous" especially during a time when bird flu could potentially evolve into a pandemic.

He added that chicken excrement was one of the main carriers of the deadly H5N1 virus, which could survive in a cool and wet environment for a month and slightly less if in water.

Sang said the practice had to be stopped immediately, and tests on fish food would also be done soon.

A nine-year-old boy in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh reportedly died of bird flu in January this year, after catching the disease while swimming in water where dead infected poultry were disposed.