November 14, 2005

US gives Vietnam US$6.5 million against bird flu
 

The US has pledged to support Vietnam financially with a US$6.5-million fund, to help the latter fight the spread of bird flu.

Of which, US$2 million will be provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to control bird flu in animals through the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme special emergency preparedness project in Vietnam.

The USAID has also provided US$1 million to support the local government's nation-wide communications campaign aimed at developing safer animal raising practices, while the USDA has granted US$400,000 in technical expertise to assist the nation's poultry vaccination effort.

Meanwhile, the country's Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City said that the bird flu virus strain H5N1 in the country has mutated.

According to a research done by the institute, the virus type A subtype H5N1 found in Vietnam in early 2005, has been mutating to reproduce effectively in the cell of mammals, thus increasing its attacking capability.

Research was done on 24 virus samples from infected poultry and people in the southern region between December 2003 and March 2005.

However, the institute has been unable to determine which kinds of mutations allow human-to-human transmission, and which conditions lead to the mutations.