71% of ducks in southern Vietnam infected with bird flu
HANOI - Initial testing showed that 71 percent of ducks and 21.4 percent of chickens in Vietnam's 11 southern localities in the Mekong Delta are infected with bird fluvirus strain H5. Up to 80 percent of 2,000 samples taken from ducks raised in Can Tho city alone, which is home to some 1.5 million poultry, were tested positive to H5, local newspaper Youth on Wednesday quoted recent tests by the country's Regional Veterinarian Centeras saying.
The situation poses challenges to many localities, because a great number of ducks are raised freely in fields and canals in the delta, which can spread the disease from province to province.Moreover, many local farmers protest the forced culling, saying that their ducks are totally healthy, and not yet confirmed to contract the deadly virus H5N1.
On April 1, Vietnam started a month-long campaign to clean up poultry farms nationwide, in a move to stamp out bird flu, which has hit 35 cities and provinces nationwide since January. Thirty-three localities have so far detected no new affected spots in their territory for three weeks, meeting the country's criteria toannounce an end to the disease.
Vietnam has reported 35 human cases of bird flu infection sinceDecember 2004, of whom 16 have died. To minimize the infection, ithas intensified publicity, urging local people not to eat dishes made from raw duck blood, slaughter sick poultry for meal, and contact fowls without protective gears.
Xinhuanet - April 13, 2005.
Bird flu widespread in Mekong Delta
HANOI - More than 70 percent of random duck and geese samples have tested positive for bird flu in Vietnam's southern Mekong Delta, but many farmers have refused to slaughter their flocks, officials said Wednesday. "We still don't know how strong the virus is," said Nguyen Ba Thanh, director of the Can Tho regional animal health center. "It may kill or may not kill the poultry, but it shows that the virus is entrenched in the region." Of more than 10,000 duck and geese samples gathered from poultry farms across 10 Mekong Delta provinces, 71 percent have tested positive so far this year, Thanh said. The virus also was found in about 21 percent of sampled chickens, he said.
The test results suggest that more than 10 million out of nearly 20 million total birds should be slaughtered to try to stamp out the virus, he said. However, farmers are resisting local government orders to kill their flocks because of lost income.
The government has offered to pay 32 cents to 64 cents for each bird slaughtered. But birds sold on the market command $1.30 to $1.90 a piece.
Thanh said a meeting is scheduled next week to address the issue.
"We need stronger and unified measures from the government," he said.
Bird flu has also jumped to humans, killing 51 people in the region, including 36 in Vietnam, since the virus ravaged farms across the region in late 2003.
ABC Radio Australia - April 13, 2005.
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