January 22, 2004

Vietnam: 900,000 Birds Exposed To Bird Flu Sold To Public

Vietnam's top veterinary officials said Wednesday that nearly 900,000 chickens believed exposed to a deadly bird virus were sold to the public before the country ordered a mass cull, and that the sales pose a major threat to the public's health.

"There's been nearly 900,0000 chickens that farmers have sold to the market from the beginning of January, mostly from Long An and Tien Giang provinces," said Nguyen Van Thong, deputy director of the veterinary department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

"We have no idea whether these chickens were killed and eaten or slaughtered," he said. "This poses a threat of the disease spreading."

Vietnam said that some 2.4 million chickens have died or been slaughtered to prevent the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed at least five people so far.

Health officials believe that people may contract the disease through contact with sick chickens, although they have said they believe there is no danger from eating properly cooked meat. There has been no evidence of person-to-person transmission.

The chickens purchased before the culls were ordered were still alive when sold. Officials don't know whether those chickens were infected with the H5N1 virus, but they were sold from the two provinces that have been worst hit by the epidemic - with about 1 million birds slaughtered.

Most of the birds were believed to have been sold from the beginning of January until Jan. 8, when the government declared an epidemic, ordered the mass slaughter of sick poultry, and banned the transportation of chickens to and from affected provinces.