Vietnam Set to Declare Bird Flu Stamped Out

Vietnam was expected to declare on Tuesday that it was free of the bird flu after a month free of new outbreaks of the virus that has killed 16 people in the country and caused the death of millions of poultry. Agriculture Minister Le Huy Ngo and Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien were scheduled to hold a news conference at 3:00 p.m. (3 a.m. EST) in Hanoi to make the announcement, said a spokeswoman at the agriculture ministry. The last bird flu fatality in Vietnam was a 12-year-old boy who died on March 15. The epidemic resulted in the cull or death of around 38 million poultry in the country or 15 percent of Vietnam’s total flocks. Another eight people died of the virus in Thailand. Earlier this month, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization urged affected nations not to restock poultry farms too quickly to prevent the disease from flaring up again. The virulent H5N1 avian flu virus spread across much of Asia from late 2003, causing the death or cull of more than 100 million fowl.

Vietnam was expected to declare on Tuesday that it was free of the bird flu after a month free of new outbreaks of the virus that has killed 16 people in the country and caused the death of millions of poultry. Agriculture Minister Le Huy Ngo and Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien were scheduled to hold a news conference at 3:00 p.m. (3 a.m. EST) in Hanoi to make the announcement, said a spokeswoman at the agriculture ministry. The last bird flu fatality in Vietnam was a 12-year-old boy who died on March 15. The epidemic resulted in the cull or death of around 38 million poultry in the country or 15 percent of Vietnam’s total flocks. Another eight people died of the virus in Thailand. Earlier this month, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization urged affected nations not to restock poultry farms too quickly to prevent the disease from flaring up again. The virulent H5N1 avian flu virus spread across much of Asia from late 2003, causing the death or cull of more than 100 million fowl. (Source: Reuters Health, March 2004)