Vietnam fights bird flu yet again

    Ducks on farm test positive for bird flu in Mekong Delta

(03-03-2007)

HCM CITY — The Animal Health Department on Thursday has officially confirmed a bird flu outbreak in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long.

Some 800 ducks tested positive for the deadly virus on March 1 on a farm in Thoi Hoa Commune, Tra On District, Vinh Long Province.

Local veterinary workers culled the flock immediately after the test and disinfected the affected area to prevent the spread of the virus.

The 45-day-old ducks, which had not received vaccinations, had been transported from the nearby province of Soc Trang.

The head of the Animal Health Department, Bui Quang Anh, warned about the high risk of bird flu if the Mekong Delta provinces failed to take drastic measures to stamp out the disease.

Vinh Long is one of seven provinces in the Mekong Delta that were hit by bird flu in December. However, it had been free of bird flu for the last 33 days.

New rules

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat on Thursday issued regulations on egg hatching and water fowl breeding after bird flu returned in Vinh Long Province.

The regulations stipulate that duck egg hatching facilities should register with commune authorities and that egg-hatching facilities should be isolated from residential quarters, schools, hospitals and be banned in the central areas of cities and provinces.

Water fowl farmers must ensure that vaccines are given to their ducks and closely monitor the transport of free-range water fowl.

Minister Phat also ordered the urgent import of vaccines for provinces in the north and Mekong Delta that badly need vaccines for newly hatched ducks.

According to the Animal Health Department, the department will import 150 million doses of vaccines for the first vaccination drive in 2007.

Only 25 million doses have been supplied to Mekong provinces and the supply of another 20 million doses of vaccines will arrive on March 10-13 to meet the growing demand.

The department has also asked for an additional supply of vaccines , especially for water fowl in the Mekong River Delta provinces, as part of a nationwide drive to innoculate poultry beginning in March.

Local veterinarians inspected a number of bird flu cases in Hai Duong on Thursday and confirmed that there had been no new outbreak in the locality in the last 10 days.

After 10,500 birds tested positive for the deadly virus on February 17, veterinary workers culled all the sick animals and cordoned off the affected area to prevent the virus from spreading to surrounding provinces. — VNS


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VietNamNet Bridge – The rainy season from March to April is when most of us get runny noses and sore throats, according to medical professionals It is easy to catch the flu right now, something that can be very serious if it results in one of many more virulent respiratory diseases, said Pham Ngoc Dang, deputy director of the National Centre for Hygiene and Epidemiology.Doctors said another reason people are getting sick is because of a new flu virus making its way through Vietnam.A medical survey of 12 communities showed the A/H3N2 flu virus, one Vietnamese don't have antibodies to fight, is well on its way to replacing last year's culprit A/H1N1.

http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/business/060307/business_water.htm

    HANOI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Some 10 ducks in Vietnam's central Thua Thien Hue province have died with unidentified causes in the last two days, local newspaper Pioneer reported Thursday.

Specimens from the ducks in a farm in Huong Tra district are being tested for bird flu viruses.

Now, four localities in Vietnam, namely capital city of Hanoi, the two northern provinces of Hai Duong and Ha Tay, and the southern province of Vinh Long, are being affected bird flu.

Some changes have been reported in bird flu virus strain H5N1 in some localities of the country, said Vietnamese Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan.

Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country, said the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.   
      

   
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Last updated: 16:0 - March 23, 2007


Institute produces H5N1 vaccines for humans



The Nha Trang Institute of Vaccines and Biological Products in central Khanh Hoa province has successfully produced an additional 5,000 doses of flu type A (H5N1) vaccine for humans from chicken embryos.

The vaccines will be tested on humans if they pass the requirements of the National Institute of Verification.

In late 2006, the institute also turned out 5,000 doses of the vaccine, which were then tested on white mice, guinea-pigs and cockerels to examine haemagglutinin (HA) antibody levels.

The tested animals had HA levels of between 40-320 hemagglutination inhibition units (HIU), accounting for an average level of 76.6-100 percent.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute and the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology are also carrying projects to produce flu type A vaccines on a trial basis with different techniques. (VNA)


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More on the Dengue outbreak

Last updated: 16:0 - March 23, 2007


5,000 estimated cases of dengue fever in Vietnam



So far there have been in the region of 5,000 cases of dengue fever in Vietnam, mainly in southern provinces, according to Assistant Professor Pham Ngoc Dinh, Vice Director of the Central Institute of Epidemiology.

So far, there have been few cases found in the north because the disease often occurs between June and November. However, according to estimates, the incidents of disease tend to rise, especially in the north.

To cope with the situation, the executive board of the Dengue Fever Control Project has actively trained grassroots health care workers and co-ordinators to keep close watch over the development of the disease and has called on people to take preventive measures.
http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/230307/life_500.htm

        Thanh Nien News | Health | Vietnam says bird flu could return in winter



Vietnam says bird flu could return in winter

    

Vietnam plans to vaccinate up to 90 percent of its poultry, fearing a return of bird flu virus in the winter season after a brief lull, a senior agriculture ministry official said Thursday.
Vietnam has had no human cases of bird flu since November 2005, but the H5N1 virus, which first arrived in late 2003 and has killed 42 people, returned to poultry in the south late last year and struck ducks in early March.

However, the arrival of warmer spring weather in the north and the dry season in the south has slowed down any further outbreak of a virus which seems to thrive best in cooler weather.

"Bird flu outbreaks have declined and will remain so between now and August because the temperature is higher," Deputy Agriculture Minister Bui Ba Bong told Reuters.

But he said the government had stepped up a poultry vaccination drive, fearing a return of the disease later in the year.

"Between August and December, we could face the risk of recurrences of the disease," Bong said in an interview, referring to the autumn and winter periods in northern Vietnam.

"Now we have started the first phase of vaccinating poultry and we will target 70 percent of the country's poultry stock to be vaccinated, while in the areas with a high infection risk, the rate is targeted at 90 percent," he said.

Experts fear that although the virus does not appear to have developed the ability to spread easily from person to person, it could do so and set of a pandemic in which millions could die.

The World Health Organization says bird flu is known to have killed about 170 people, most of them in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Experts and government officials said poultry vaccinations had helped prevent the H5N1 virus from spreading in Vietnam.

Bong said while Vietnam had started trial production of a bird flu vaccine, it would take a long time before production could meet domestic demand.

"We have been buying the vaccines for poultry from China and Holland and imports will continue for the next two years," Bong said.

The Agriculture Ministry expects to import 500 million doses of anti-bird flu vaccines this year and next.

On Thursday, Indonesia announced two more human bird flu deaths and China said a teenage boy had died from the virus, which has now spread to more than 50 countries.

Source: Reuters

    
Story from Thanh Nien News

Last updated: 15:13 - April 5, 2007


Vietnam stores enough Tamiflu to fight bird flu

The head of the preventive health agency announced on April 4 that a sufficient amount of Tamiflu has been stored for the fight against the deadly H5N1 virus.

According to Dr Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Preventive Health Department of the Health Ministry, Vietnam will receive around 71,000 doses of Tamiflu out of the 500,000 doses that the Japanese Government pledged to give to Southeast Asian countries.

At its regular meeting, the National Steering Board for Prevention and Fight against Avian Influenza in Humans requested that localities reinforce their preventive measures against avian flu in both poultry and humans.

Related agencies are required to work closely at border checkpoints as well as air and water routes in order to detect suspected cases in a timely manner.

Information on avian influenza was broadcasted by 15 provincial and municipal TV stations. It will also be aired in 10 ethnic minority languages on the radio soon. (VNA)
http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/050407/life_vns.htm
   

Health Minister urges nation to co-operate in bird flu fight

(07-04-2007)

HA NOI — Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien urged communities to do all they could to prevent a human outbreak of avian influenza.

He made the comments at a meeting held yesterday to commemorate World Health Day today.

"I call on us all to work together and act together for a safe world with no influenza pandemic," said Chien.

Officials met in the capital to discuss strengthening collaboration and preventive measures to help curb the spread of avian influenza and avert a possible global pandemic.

Viet Nam will focus its activities on controlling outbreaks through improved communication between ministries and agencies, stockpiling anti-viral medications and medical equipment and promoting bird flu education, said authorities.

The special day was designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Representatives from the international body have asked governments, organisations and communities worldwide to make a concentrated effort in addressing critical issues like SARS, bird flu, HIV/AIDS, human emergencies, bio-terrorism and other urgent health threats.

"The security of all countries depends first and foremost on the capacity of each to act effectively against these health threats," said Hans Troedsson, WHO Representative in Viet Nam.

Since bird flu was first detected in Viet Nam four years ago, the nation has seen three major human outbreaks of the virus. To date, 93 people were diagnosed with the H5N1 virus in 32 provinces and cities. Forty-two of those people eventually died from viral complications.

One of the lucky few in this region, Viet Nam has not diagnosed any human bird flu cases since November 14, 2005. But the virus has remained a plague on bird and domestic fowl populations across the country.

The Government has made fighting bird a priority and invested US$70 million to prevent its spread in humans, according to State documents. — VNS
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA070407

* Many provinces have not yet vaccinated poultry against bird flu, according to head of the Animal Health Department Bui Quang Anh at a meeting on Tuesday. (Tuoi Tre)

* Foot-and-mouth disease has recurred in moun-tainous areas in Nam Tra My District in Quang Nam Province.                                                  http://www.saigontimes.com.vn/daily/BRIEFs.asp?loai=1&Sobao=2917&Ten=briefly%20today