Vietnam declares ‘premature’ end to bird flu

Vietnam has declared an end to its deadly bird flu crisis despite warnings from United Nations health experts that it is acting prematurely and recklessly.

Vietnam has declared an end to its deadly bird flu crisis despite warnings from United Nations health experts that it is acting prematurely and recklessly.The announcement by Le Huy Ngo, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, comes just 15 days after the country recorded its 16th fatality from the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu.”After 90 days and nights of fighting against bird flu … the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would like to inform that … bird flu has been stopped nationwide,” Mr Ngo said.However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say the March 15 death of a 12-year-old boy in the southern province of Tay Ninh proves that the virus could still be present.The child’s death also threw into disarray the communist regime’s public relations strategy, with state media subsequently carrying contradictory messages about whether or not H5N1 has been completely eradicated.After a week of confusion, Vietnam yesterday confirmed that the March 30 declaration of an end to the crisis, which was publicly announced at the beginning of the month, would take place as planned.The FAO, however, is accusing the Government of deliberately withholding information and sweeping the disease under the carpet.”We have not been informed or consulted in any way,” Anton Rychener, head of the UN agency’s operations in Vietnam, said.”There is certainly a risk of Vietnam losing its credibility. There is almost a 100 per cent certainty that the disease will resurface in the coming weeks or months.”The WHO, meanwhile, is warning that it could take months, probably years to eliminate H5N1 from the environment.(Source: AFP, ABC Health News, March 2004)