November 10, 2005

 

Vietnam to do utmost in fight against bird flu

 

 

Vietnam's deputy prime minister vowed that his country - hardest hit by bird flu - would fight the disease at whatever cost, state-controlled media reported Thursday.

 

"We have to mobilise all possible resources and all possible measures to fight the epidemic," Nguyen Tan Dung told officials in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

 

"We must do our utmost to fight the epidemic at whatever cost, even if we have to adjust our national growth," he said.

 

Vietnam has reported two-thirds of the 64 deaths due to the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which re-emerged in Asia starting in December 2003. It first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, but was eliminated when authorities destroyed all poultry in the territory.

 

Bird flu outbreaks among poultry have been reported in at least six provinces in Vietnam over the past month, killing or forcing the cull of more than 130,000 poultry, officials said Thursday. Most of the poultry that died were ducks, a major change from last year when ducks were identified as carriers of the virus but did not become ill.

 

Experts agreed that a global human pandemic would be inevitable, but it is unknown when that would occur, and whether the H5N1 bird flu strain would be the source from which a new human flu virus emerges.

 

Most of the human deaths from the H5N1 virus have been associated with close contact with birds. However, if the virus mutated and became easily transmitted between humans, it could cause millions of deaths. The first major international coordination meeting on a strategy to prevent and prepare for a pandemic was held in Geneva this week.

 

Dung said he was worried that most Vietnamese were unaware of the potential for a human flu pandemic.

 

"Bird flu among poultry and a flu pandemic in humans are appearing before our eyes," he was quoted as saying. "The worry is that the majority of people do not realise this danger, and neglect control and prevention measures."

 

This week, Vietnam sent eight Cabinet members, including all three deputy prime ministers, to the provinces to inspect how local officials have implemented measures to control bird flu.

 

Dung said clinics to treat people who contracted bird flu must be established down to the village level, with all medical workers trained in dealing with an outbreak.

 

The deputy prime minister cited international experts forecasting that 10 percent of Vietnam's 82 million population could be infected in the event of a flu pandemic, and 800,000 of those infected could die. The fatality rate was based on the Spanish influenza in 1918 that killed up to 50 million people.

 

Bird flu outbreaks were reported in four villages in northern Thanh Hoa province, some 160 kilometres south of Hanoi, killing or forcing the cull of more than 1,000 birds, Bui Quang Trung, deputy director of the animal health department, said Thursday.

 

The four villages have been disinfected and transportation of poultry to and from the area has been banned, he said. The first outbreaks were reported on Nov 4 and no other outbreaks have been reported since Monday, he said.

 

In northern Bac Giang province, about 134,000 poultry have died or been culled since the first outbreak there more than two weeks ago, said Hoang Dang Huyen, director of the provincial animal health department. Bac Giang is 60 kilometres north-east of Hanoi.

 

Van Dang Ky of the National Animal Health Department said outbreaks were also reported in four other provinces - Dong Thap, Bac Lieu, Quang Nam and the capital, Hanoi.

 

Ky said he noticed a major difference between the recent outbreaks and those last year.

 

"Epidemiologically, there is a difference," he said "Last year, most of the poultry which sickened and died were chickens, but this year, most of the deaths were ducks."

 

The government banned raising ducks in May and has been culling those found reared illegally.