Vietnam government acts on fears of H5N1

 

 

With numbers of outbreaks of animal epidemics rising worldwide, Vietnam looks to localities to ensure quarantines.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has sent an urgent message asking provinces nationwide to prevent the outbreak of animal epidemics, H5N1 avian flu, foot-and-mouth and blue-ear pig diseases. Localities are mobilising their resources and local authorities instructed to control the spread of the epidemics of cattle, poultry and pigs by ensuring at least 80 per cent of their livestock get vaccinated.

 

Also, temporary animal quarantine stations in localities with these epidemics must be established at traffic junctions and on duty 24/7 to completely stop the transport of livestock out of the areas.

 

In the message, the ministry has threatened that if any local departments of agriculture and rural development do not implement vaccination and protection mesures for their livestock, they will be punished.

 

On top of this, the localities which hide information about their epidemics and individuals who are responsible for increasing the problem will also be strictly punished according to the law.

 

Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the Animal Health Department, said that this message was a result of the high risk of spreading these diseases. According to the department's report, the virus sources causing H5N1 avian flu are still active, but only 30 per cent of the poultry have been vaccinated since the beginning of this year, just 28 out of 63 provinces and cities.

 

Dien Bien Province at the beginning of the week announced the outbreak of avian flu H5N1 after flocks of poultry from nine households in the province died and were tested positive for H5N1.

 

Health experts are worried about the risk of the combination of H5N1 avian flu and swine flu A/H1N1 which can be dangerous for humans. Foot-and-mouth disease continues to affect cattle in 23 provinces and cities.

 

More than 3,000 cattle have got the disease, three times higher than the same period last year.

 

The department warned that the disease could continue to spread through more livestock due to the fact that affected cattle were still being transported to other provinces while the local authorities failed to report their epidemics. Adding to fears are reports that a number of sick cattle have also been imported illegally to border provinces like Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Nghe An or Quang Tri.