November 14, 2005

 

Vietnam reports more bird flu cases; closes sanctuaries
 

 

Vietnam announced plans to close two wild bird sanctuaries to the public, as the agriculture ministry on Monday reported new outbreaks of bird flu in four provinces.

 

The sanctuaries, in Tram Chim National Park and the Gao Giong ecological tourist zone, have been ordered off-limits to tourists, said Nguyen Be Hien, director of the southern province of Dong Thap's local animal health department.

 

The wetland areas were home to hundreds of thousands of wild birds, Hien said, and Tram Chim park was on the migratory route of redheaded cranes.

 

Officials would be closely monitoring the birds in the two parks for any signs of bird flu, Hien said. Dong Thap province is 240 kilometres south-west of Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Migrating birds were believed to have carried the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu from Asia to the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

 

Scientists feared the strain could mutate into a form that could be easily passed from human to human, sparking a pandemic.

 

More outbreaks among poultry have been detected in four of the nine provinces that experienced earlier bird flu cases, said Ministry of Agriculture official Hoang Van Nam.

 

Additional outbreaks were reported over the weekend in Hai Duong, Bac Giang, Quang Nam and Thanh Hoa provinces, he said.

 

"The bird flu is spreading faster and faster. We are mobilising all forces, trying our utmost to prevent as much as we can and prepare for a possible pandemic on poultry as well as in humans," he said.

 

Authorities were cleaning and disinfecting the farms, banning poultry transportation in and around those areas, and culling the remaining flocks.

 

Poultry in 52 out of Vietnam's 64 provinces and cities have been vaccinated to date as part of the country's national inoculation plan. Some 70 million chickens and 35 million ducks have been immunised so far.

 

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has claimed the lives of at least 64 people since it emerged in poultry farms across Asia in late 2003, sickening birds and triggering the cull of tens of millions of poultry.