Vietnam Finds New Case of Bird Flu, Contains It

Birdflu has broken out in Vietnam more than a month after an outbreak that killed 16 people was declared over.

Birdflu has broken out in Vietnam more than a month after an outbreak that killed 16 people was declared over. The latest outbreak of the deadly H5N1 birdflu virus was found on a farm in the south of the country. It has been successfully contained, a senior agriculture official was quoted as saying on Thursday. “There is an outbreak in Dong Thap,” Bui Quang Anh, director of the Agriculture Ministry’s animal health department, told the state-run Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, referring to a southern province. “After it was spotted, the outbreak was contained. Dead chickens have been treated to ensure the disease does not spread,” he said. Birdflu erupted across many parts of Asia from late last year and killed millions of chickens and devastated poultry industries in several countries. It also killed 24 people — 16 in Vietnam and eight in Thailand. Vietnam had declared itself free of the disease on March 30. Thailand has twice delayed declaring itself free, most recently after a new outbreak was found on April 19. A representative of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Vietnam said the new outbreak was not a surprise. The area where the outbreak was detected should be immediately isolated and the situation should be carefully controlled, said FAO official, Anton Rychener. Agriculture Minister Le Huy Ngo was also cautious. “The risk of bird flu re-occurrence in Vietnam is very high,” he was quoted by Tuoi Tre as saying. (Additional reporting by Christina Toh-Pantin) (Source: Reuters Health, May 2004)