Vietnam cities hasten mass poultry slaughter
HANOI - Vietnam accelerated the slaughter of poultry in two major cities on Tuesday, the deadline for an end to raising fowl there, as it tries to stop the spread of bird flu which might have infected three more people in the north.
The Tuoi Tre newspaper said a 75-year-old woman died at a Hanoi hospital last Thursday with symptoms similar to bird flu and tests for the H5N1 virus were under way.
State-run Voice of Vietnam radio said two people fell sick with bird flu-like symptoms in the northern province of Bac Giang, where there are already four other suspected cases after outbreaks killed ducks and chickens late last month.
The new cases took to eight the number of people in Vietnam suspected of having contracted bird flu since the H5N1 virus returned last month. Two of them have died.
But tests cleared one suspected case, that of a male student in Hanoi, health officials said.
Officials are racing against time to meet the government deadline for ending poultry raising in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest.
Early in the day police, veterinarians and health workers, wearing masks and protective clothes, gathered at duck farms on the edge of Hanoi in Hoang Mai district where outbreaks were detected earlier.
"We are carrying out the city's decision to kill all the poultry inside the city," said veterinary official Phi Thanh Hai as some 3,500 ducks quacked in bags after being rounded up at a pond next to the Red River.
"It is highly crowded in the city, so the H5N1 virus can easily spread, while Hoang Mai is where we found the H5 component, so we have to destroy the birds," he told Reuters Television.
No bird can escape
A Hoang Mai district official said the poultry catchers would be searching house to house to seize chickens, ducks and pet birds such as parrots or starlings.
"If only one single bird managed to flee, the virus could spread to God knows where," he said as a duck farm owner, water up to his chest, waved a stick to chase them ashore.
Hanoi poultry farmers said they get compensation of 15,000 dong (543,000 pounds) for each destroyed duck, which cost 40,000 dong to raise.
"We are determined even though it costs us losses. We are ready to sacrifice our ducks to protect the health of the family and of the community," said 43-year-old Nguyen Van Tan, who owns 3,500 ducks and has been raising poultry since 1990.
"It is our entire fortune plus bank loans," said Tan, a father of two who plans to switch to cows or buffaloes. "We want the compensation early to change jobs to restore my life and for my children's meals and study."
In Ho Chi Minh City, home to 10 million people, farmers can sell poultry raised at large-scale farms for centralised slaughter, while the poultry raised in family backyards must be destroyed without compensation, officials said.
The government said the H5N1 virus has killed 42 people since it first arrived in late 2003 and has been detected in 10 of Vietnam's 64 provinces since returning in early October.
Bird flu has killed at least 64 people in Asia since it arrived in 2003 and became endemic in several countries.
Thirteen people are known to have died of bird flu in Thailand, five in Indonesia and four in Cambodia.
Reuters - November 15, 2005.
Fowls die en masse in Vietnam's central city
Hundreds of poultry in Vietnam's central Da Nang city have died over the past few days, prompting the local veterinary authorities to cull tens of thousands of fowls.
Over 100 chickens and ducks have died in the district of Lien Chieu, and more than 100 quails have died in the district of Cam Le, according to the city's Anti-Bird flu Steering Committee on Monday.
Although the veterinary authorities have yet to define the deaths' cause, they have already ordered to cull a large number of chickens, ducks and quails in the city's inner areas. As of late Sunday, Da Nang had culled 11,000 poultry.
The People's Committee of Da Nang on Nov. 10 stipulated that no fowls are raised in the areas after Nov. 11. The committee on Nov. 12 set up an anti-bird flu team comprising of 46 military officers, soldiers, policemen, veterinary cadres and local volunteers.
Since Oct. 1, bird flu has been spotted in 10 localities in northern, central and southern localities, namely Bac Lieu, Dong Thap, Quang Nam, Bac Giang, Thanh Hoa, Hanoi, Hai Duong, Ninh Binh, Hung Yen and Hai Phong, killing and leading to the forced culling of some 38,000 fowls.
Previous outbreaks starting in December 2003 killed and led to the forced culling of some 46.6 million fowls in Vietnam, causing losses of 3.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (221.5 million US dollars).
Vietnam has detected 65 human cases of bird flu infections, including 22 fatalities, in 25 cities and provinces since December 2004, the Vietnamese Health Ministry announced on Nov. 11, noting that the accumulated numbers of bird flu infections and fatalities after December 2003 reached 92 and 42, respectively.
Xinhuanet - November 15, 2005.
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