Vietnam launches campaign to clean up poultry farms
HANOI - Vietnam has launched a month-long campaign to clean and disinfect poultry farms nationwide in a bid to prevent more outbreaks of bird flu, an official said Wednesday.
Under the campaign, which took effect at the beginning of the month, poultry farms in the country's 64 provinces and their surrounding areas will be disinfected, said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Department of Animal Health under the Agriculture Ministry.
"The campaign aims at eliminating the virus still existing in the environment and preventing the reemergence of the bird flu outbreaks," he said.
Officials have warned that Vietnam still faces risks of flare-ups even though no outbreaks among poultry have been reported in nearly three months. No human cases have been logged since Nov. 14.
Vietnam's poultry industry has been among the hardest hit since bird flu re-emerged in the region in late 2003, and the country has logged the majority of the 95 human deaths caused by the disease.
Bird flu has killed or forced the slaughter of more than 100 million birds since 2003. Most human deaths have been traced to contact with infected birds.
The country's leadership has repeatedly warned of the need to be vigilant as Vietnam undertook a series of measures to curtail the spread of the disease, including mass vaccinations of its poultry stock.
The Associated Press - March 8, 2006.
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