August 1, 2006

 

Bird flu fears prompt Vietnam to keep ban on duck-raising

 

 

Vietnam has decided not to end a ban on the raising of ducks following a resurgence of the bird flu virus in Thailand, an agriculture ministry official said Tuesday ( Aug 1). 

 

Last month, the government considered lifting the ban because no outbreaks of bird flu in poultry had been reported since December.

 

However, in a recent meeting, agriculture officials from 13 southern Mekong Delta provinces, where most of the ducks were raised, voiced concerns that it would be difficult to control the disease if the ban on raising ducks is lifted, said Nguyen Dang Vang, director of the Breeding Department under the Agriculture Ministry.

 

Given the recent situation in Thailand and upcoming autumn and winter when more outbreaks were reported, allowing raising ducks now carries more risk of bird flu recurrence, he said.

 

In the past two weeks, two new H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in poultry in Thailand and a teenage boy became the country's first human fatality this year.

 

Vietnam, where 42 people have died of bird flu since 2003, imposed a ban on raising poultry last year in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

 

The ban on chickens was lifted in February, but ducks remained officially off limits because they can carry the virus without showing symptoms.

 

The ban was to have remained in place through February 2007. However, many farmers ignored the government restrictions and continued to raise poultry.

 

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 134 people in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

 

Experts fear the virus would eventually mutate into a form that passes easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.