January 10, 2006

Vietnam's bird flu situation under control

Vietnam has not detected any bird flu outbreaks among its poultry in more than three weeks, but the country hardest-hit by the virus still faces a high risk of future recurrence, an official said Monday.

The northern provinces of Ha Giang and Cao Bang bordering China were the last two provinces where no outbreaks were reported in 21 days, said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the national Department of Animal Health. The virus is deemed contained if no new outbreaks have been reported in that period, according to Vietnam's animal health decree.

Since early October, nearly 4 million birds have died or been slaughtered in 24 affected provinces nationwide. All of those areas have since gone at least 21 days without an outbreak, but Nam said there is no room for complacency since the virus is entrenched in Vietnam's poultry stocks.

"We have not been able to eradicate the bird flu virus, which still exists in the environment, and the risk of bird flu recurrence remains very high, particularly over the next two months when outbreaks have peaked during January and February in previous years," he said.

He said the increased movement of poultry and people and cooler temperatures around the Lunar New Year, or Tet, on Jan 29, may facilitate the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

The government has urged officials nationwide to step up the fight against bird flu to prevent new outbreaks through March, he said. Last week, Nam said the decrease in outbreaks could possibly be linked to a mass vaccination campaign Vietnam undertook last fall when it immunised 120 million birds nationwide.

Nam said his department has instructed local governments to launch a month exercise to disinfect poultry farms, strengthen surveillance and tighten control on poultry slaughter houses.