Vietnam reports first bird flu death since 2005
HANOI - A patient has died of bird flu in northern Vietnam, state television announced late Saturday, the first death from avian influenza in the country since November 2005.
The patient, whose age and sex were not given, died nearly a week ago in Ha Tay province bordering the capital Hanoi, the television report said, citing a report by the Vietnamese health ministry.
The latest death brings to 43 the number of people who have died of the human form of bird flu in Vietnam since the virus reappeared in Southeast Asia in late 2003.
Four other people have been reported infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus in Vietnam, the report said. Two have recovered and two are undergoing treatment, state media has reported.
Communist Vietnam, once the country worst hit by the disease, has won praise for containing earlier bird flu outbreaks through mass vaccination campaigns, culls of millions of poultry and public education campaigns.
But the virus has come back strongly this year, hitting scores of poultry farms especially in the densely populated northern Red River delta region in recent weeks.
Avian influenza outbreaks have been reported since May across 18 of Vietnam's 64 provinces and municipalities, mostly among unvaccinated ducks and other waterfowl.
Neighbouring China has stepped up anti-bird flu measures in its southern Guangxi region, which shares a 600-kilometre (400-mile) border with Vietnam, vaccinating birds, closing markets and banning cross-border poultry trade.
None of Vietnam's five reported human infections, including the fatality, has yet been officially confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Worldwide, the virus has killed 191 people out of 313 infected patients, according to the WHO. Experts fear the death toll would rise sharply if the virus were to mutate and become easily transmitted between humans.
Agence France Presse - June 16, 2007.
Bird flu hits Vietnam province near China
HANOI - Bird flu in Vietnam has spread to a mountainous province bordering China, officials said Friday, as animal health workers stepped up vaccinations to limit the spread of the virus.
The outbreak in northern Cao Bang province, and new poultry deaths reported from central Ha Tinh, have brought to 18 the number of Vietnam's 64 provinces and municipalities hit by the H5N1 virus since last month.
Nearly 2,600 ducks and chickens died or were culled to contain the latest two outbreaks, the communist country's animal health department said in an online report.
Last week, China stepped up anti-bird flu measures in its southern Guangxi region, which shares a 600-kilometre (400-mile) border with Vietnam, vaccinating birds, closing markets and banning cross-border poultry trade, the China Daily newspaper said, citing officials.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung this week ordered the agriculture ministry to take urgent steps to contain the spread of avian influenza, blamed by experts on gaps in the vaccinations of waterfowl.
Vietnam was the country worst hit by bird flu between late 2003 and November 2005, with 42 human fatalities.
After an 18-month period with no new human cases, Vietnam has seen four new infections in recent weeks. Two of the patients have been discharged from hospital, but two were still undergoing treatment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has not confirmed the latest cases.
Worldwide, the virus has killed 190 out of 312 people infected with H5N1, says the WHO. Experts fear the death toll would rise sharply if the virus were to mutate and become easily transmitted between humans.
Agence France Presse - June 15, 2007.
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