February 2, 2015
                                

Poultry smuggling risks spreading bird flu: Vietnam report

The H5N6 bird flu strain that killed at least one man in China last May has spread widely through northern and central Vietnam due to rampant poultry smuggling, Tuoi Tre newspaper reports.

According to the report, the Animal Health Department has detected H5N6 in fowl in the northern provinces of Phu Tho and Bac Giang, and the central provinces of Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai.

The strain's genetic structure is 99% similar to the H5N6 strain that killed a man in China last May.

Vietnamese authorities detected the virus for the first time in August last year at Lang Son Province along the Chinese border, and Ha Tinh Province in central Vietnam.

Border guards said poultry smuggling along the Chinese border has fallen, but still persists.

An officer said it normally costs only 20 US cents a kilogram to hire people to smuggle cargo across the border.

Porters tend to raise their prices four-fold whenever inspections increase, the officer said.