Vietnam faces dilemma over culling poultry as bird flu persists
HANOI - Vietnam faces a dilemma over the culling of poultry in the Mekong delta where bird flu, which has led to 36 human deaths in the country so far, is rampant and farmers are resisting drastic steps, officials said. Complicating the issue, they said was that while up to 85 percent of water fowl in some provinces were found to have the H5 strain of virus, more tests were needed and they could only be done at central laboratories.
A different strain, the H5N1 which has also been spreading among poultry, has killed a total of 51 people in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia since late 2003. Nguyen Phuc Tai, director of Animal Health Department of southern Vietnam's Bac Lieu province said: "Up to 85 percent of our water fowl flock of 500,000 are positive to the H5 virus but many of the birds appear strong. "However, according to regulations, we must cull all the infected ones. We don't know what to do as we don't have enough money," Tai told AFP. "We ask for support from the ministry (of agriculture) but they also say they don't have the money."
A central ministry official said more information was needed before taking drastic measures. Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the ministry's veterinary department said: "We are collecting more information in order to evaluate the bird flu situation in this (Mekong) region before presenting a final report to the government which will decide the steps to be taken."
He said the bird flu virus was rapidly spreading among the ducks in the region where healthy ducks are being raised alongside infected ones in a large number of farms next to each other. "It is therefore very difficult to fight the virus." The culling of all the water fowl in the Mekong delta is a difficult task as the farmers are poor.
Vo Be Hien, director of Animal Health Department of Dong Thap province said, "we cannot force them to have the ducks culled as after they know that their ducks are infected, they take their ducks away... The compensation is too low." Moreover, he said, the compensation rates set for different provinces are not the same. The rate is between 5,000 and 10,000 dong (between a third and two-thirds of a dollar) for each chicken or duck. "Farmers are jealous when those in a neighbouring province receive more," Hien said.
The total number of water fowl in the delta is between 15 million and 17 million, according to Nguyen Ba Thanh, director of the Can Tho regional animal health center. On Thursday officials said a 21-year-old woman had tested positive for both HIV and bird flu in the first such case in Vietnam. Thirty-five of Vietnam's 64 provinces and cities have been hit by the virus this year. According to an official report, all but one is now clear of the disease.
Dr Hoang Thuy Long, from the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, was this week quoted as saying an epidemiological survey showed that in almost all cases of infection by H5N1 there was contact with bird flu-infected poultry. The scientist further said that in Vietnam, no evidence had been found to suggest there had been human-to-human transmission of the deadly virus. Health experts have warned the H5N1 virus strain could lead to a pandemic if it mutated into a form which could be easily transmitted between humans.
Agence France Presse - April 15, 2005
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