Vietnam's "silent carriers" of H5N1

7] Viet Nam
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: Reuters alertnet, 11 Aug 2006 [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN157710.htm>


Viet Nam, worried about a recurrence of the H5N1 bird flu which has
already killed 42 of its people, has found more ducks and geese
infected with a strain of avian influenza, state media reported on
Friday [11 Aug 2006].

The Saigon Giai Phong (Liberation Saigon) newspaper quoted Dong Manh
Hoa, head of the Ho Chi Minh City Regional Veterinary Centre, as
saying tests of the waterfowl in Tien Giang, Long An and Ben Tre
provinces revealed the H5 subtype virus. [Viet Nam's 61 provinces are
presented in the interactive map
<http://www.angelfire.com/co/hongnam/vnmap.html>.
- Mod. AS]

A Ben Tre official told Reuters on Thursday more than 50 healthy
waterfowl had been killed in the province after tests showed they had
the H5 subtype, but there had been no outbreaks.

The H5N1 virus swept across much of Asia in late 2003 and, although
it has shown no signs of doing so yet, experts fear it could mutate
into a form that can pass easily between people.

It has not killed anyone in Vietnam this year, but recurrences in
Thailand, Laos and China have alarmed Hanoi officials worried their
country has become complacent.

In an urgent directive issued on Thursday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung told officials "to focus strongly on instructing and deploying
forces to carry out synchronised, preventive measures".

Officials say a failure to control waterfowl, which can be silent
carriers of bird flu, made Vietnam vulnerable to new outbreaks and
wild birds believed to carry H5N1 would migrate soon from the north,
raising the risk of outbreaks [see comment].

Farmers in the Mekong Delta have been raising ducks in large numbers
despite a ban on breeding waterfowl due to remain in place until
February 2007.  At this time of year, when a rice harvest is underway
in the region, ducks usually roam from field to field feeding on spilled grain.

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[Laboratory findings on the full identity of the H5 virus s