December 28, 2005

Vietnam's Quang Tri hit by new bird flu outbreaks

Local authorities in Vietnam's central Quang Tri province have reported renewed bird flu outbreaks within the region recently.

According to local officials, some poultry in Gio Linh and Trieu Phong districts, and Quang Tri and Dong Ha towns, died of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain lately.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has not yet confirmed whether bird flu has returned to Quang Tri. The ministry's Department of Animal Health recently said only the six northern provinces of Ninh Binh, Son La, Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang and Yen Bai, and the central province of Thanh Hoa, have not yet met the criteria to be declared bird flu-free.

To meet the criteria, a province should have no new outbreaks for at least three weeks.

The department said 21 cities and provinces have been hit by bird flu since Oct 1, and over 3.7 million poultry died of the disease or were culled as a result.