Bird Flu Spreads to 27 Provinces in Vietnam

Bird Flu Spreads to 27 Provinces in Vietnam

The bird flu epidemic, which caused serious damage to Vietnam’s husbandry sector in early 2004, has returned to 27 provinces and cities nationwide, killing or forced culling 613,000 poultry, according to the Animal Health Department on January 25.

The 27 provinces are Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Bac Lieu, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh, An Giang, Ca Mau, Ha Nam, Hanoi, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Ninh Thuan, Quang Nam, Hai Duong, Binh Duong, Kien Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh Long, Dak Lak, Haiphong, Soc Trang and Thai Nguyen.

The northern Thai Nguyen province was the latest affected area where the H5N1 virus was, on January 24, detected in a chicken herd of a household in Son Cam commune in Phu Luong district. All the poultry have been culled.

On the same day, the deadly virus was also detected in an additional 29 areas in 23 communes in three provinces of Bac Lieu, Long An and Hai Duong, killing 24,000 poultry. In Long An, the virus was spreading to 17 households in 11 communes with around 10,000 poultry killed or culled. Meanwhile, an additional 13,000 poultry in Bac Lieu and 340 ones in Hai Duong were also culled.

A total of around 186,500 chickens, 191,746 ducks and geese and 235,040 quails have so far this year been killed or culled to prevent the deadly virus in 454 areas in 263 communes in 27 localities in Vietnam, according to the department’s reports.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Health Department on January 24 said the deadly virus has so far this year returned in 418 areas in 254 communes in 95 districts of 26 provinces and cities nationwide. 600,000 poultry including 180,942 chickens, 169,203 ducks and geese and 233,640 quails have been killed or forced culling.

Vietnam has decided to temporarily ban the import of poultry and poultry products from neighboring countries in a series of measures to fight the spread of bird flu in the country. The government also urges authorities to tighten the policy of slaughtering an entire stock of which a sick poultry is detected as well as to observe the strict quarantine at poultry processing facilities.

Youth throughout Vietnam are being mobilised to cull sick poultry, sterilise contaminated farms, and to boost awareness campaigns in a bid to stop the bird flu spreading. Groups of volunteers will take part in the culling of infected poultry and sterilising areas where the H5N1 virus arises.

The Vietnamese Communist Youth Union will host nationwide week-long bird flu prevention seminars, where youths will be updated on the latest developments of the epidemic as well as preventative measures to control the poultry virus. They will then be in charge of relating the control methods to farmers.

In early 2004, the bird flu epidemic spread to 57 provinces out of 64 nationwide, killing around 36 million poultry throughout the country, or 14.25 per cent of the total herds, before being contained.

• (VietNamNet, Youth)