Vietnam may ban blood pudding over bird flu-media
HANOI - Vietnam, the country worst hit by bird flu, is considering banning the sale of raw blood pudding following the detection of two new outbreaks of the killer virus in poultry earlier this month, state media said on Tuesday.
The state anti-bird flu committee discussed rules on poultry raising, slaughtering and trading on Monday, including a proposed ban on the sale of the traditional dish, made from the raw blood of ducks or geese, the Quan Doi Nhan Dan newspaper said.
If approved, the rules would also ban the raising and trading of live poultry in urban areas, it said.
The communist Southeast Asian nation's plans to vaccinate all its 260 million birds to guard against further outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu strain also appear to be falling behind schedule.
Animal health officials said delays in the delivery of the vaccines from China have pushed back completion of the campaign by 15 days. The programme started from early August for completion by mid-November.
So far nearly 50 million chickens, ducks and geese have been vaccinated, out of a total poultry stock of 260 million, officials from the Animal Health Department said.
Bird flu, which first hit Vietnam in December 2003, has killed 41 people in the country, the World Health Organisation said, citing cases confirmed by its own laboratories.
Experts say the feared mutation of the virus into a form that is easily transmitted between humans is most likely to take place in Southeast Asia, where millions of birds have been slaughtered in an attempt to limit its spread.
Reuters - October 25, 2005.
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