Posted on 12/30/2006 2:17:13 AM PST by Mother Abigail
Avian flu strikes back in Vietnam
Saturday 30th of December 2006 02:3
On December 23, the family comprising of 36-year old woman and her three children of age range from three to thirteen, ate one ill chicken of the four and fell ill. They were admitted with the symptoms of bird flu in Nam Can Hospital of Ca Mau province this past week.
According to the doctor Ho Van Van at the hospital, they had fever, coughing, decreased white blood cells and damaged lungs. He also added that the hospital is testing the swab samples from the patients for the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu.
The family’s house and the neighborhood have been disinfected by the health officials.
The strike back of avian flu in Vietnam has raised an alarm, and the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that he would send eleven of his cabinet ministers to combat the flu, after the news of outbreaks in poultry in a year in Ca Mau and two other provinces in the Mekong Delta.
According to another source, Hau Giang Province saw two avian flu cases yesterday, as the poultry in affected areas were illegally raised and were not vaccinated against H5 virus. More than 13000 birds had been forcefully killed or reported dead due to the outbreak in the three provinces.
To curb the outbreak and disinfect the area, the birds and hens were collected at a place and chemicals were sprayed around the radius of 500km by the local health authorities.
Locals and authorities in Luong Tam and Xa Phien are trying to find out the root cause of this outbreak. According to World Health Organizations, H5N1 virus strain caused 42 deaths in Vietnam since late 2003 and 157 people all over the world.
Bird flu in humans is caused by being in contact with sick birds or poultry. H5N1 is the most virulent type of avian flu viruses that would cause deaths. Even the places inhabited by too many pigs and chicken may be the source of this flu virus, if proper vaccination is not given to them. Moreover, the incubation period for bird flu in human is not determined.
FYI
Central Vietnam facing imminent bird flu threat
Thanhnien News - Last Updated:
Saturday, December 30, 2006
11:48:09 Vietnam (GMT+07)
About 73 percent of poultry samples came back positive for H5N1 virus in the central province of Quang Nam, reported an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Friday.
Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the ministry's Animal Health Department said the result had put the central region on red alert for bird flu outbreaks.
The seasonal migration of birds and cool weather create a ripe environment for the virus to spread, especially as H5N1 has already been found in poultry, Nam warned.
To date the disease has spread to 10 communes in six districts in three Mekong Delta provinces namely Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Hau Giang.
Hau Giang's animal health department said they had quarantined and sterilized infected sites to isolate the outbreak.
Within the last several days in Bac Lieu, relevant agencies had slaughtered thousands of poultry and inoculated another 170,000 fowl.
In Ca Mau and Soc Trang, six people were isolated with bird flu symptoms after eating chicken, and local health centers had taken their samples for tests.
China crisis
Ho Chi Minh City's market control bureau said illegal poultry trade and transport had increased considerably with 106 cases, more than three-fold those from last week.
In the northern province of Lang Son, poultry trafficking from China was exploding with hundreds of tons of fowl illegally transported into Vietnam daily, which local authorities could not fully control.
Officials said poultry smuggling flared up because domestic fowl prices were rising while smuggled fowl from China was much cheaper.
They added smugglers could benefit substantially from their business, especially in months ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday when fowl demand peaks.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung assigned 11 relevant ministers to be heads of bird flu control task forces in regions nationwide.
Tran Thi Trung Chien, Health Minister launched Friday a nationwide campaign for January, urging people to sanitize the environment, especially in poultry breeding farms to control the outbreak.
Under the campaign, localities were guided to keep surveillance on poultry trade and transport, especially at border check points.
Local health centers were ordered to prepare medicines for the fight against avian influenza in humans in the event of an outbreak and increase food hygiene inspections.
Since the virus first arrived in Vietnam in late 2003, it has killed 42 of the 93 people infected, second only to Indonesia's 57, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO said the influenza had killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003, and prompted the slaughter of tens of millions of poultry.
Source: Tuoi Tre, Thanh Nien – Translated by Tuong Nh
Thanks for the ping.
"Officials said poultry smuggling flared up because domestic fowl prices were rising while smuggled fowl from China was much cheaper.
They added smugglers could benefit substantially from their business, especially in months ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday when fowl demand peaks.
Local health centers were ordered to prepare medicines for the fight against avian influenza in humans in the event of an outbreak and increase food hygiene inspections."
As they say, "Timing is everything."
And a desperate struggle takes place, far from our nation's boundaries, to contain this dreadful pestilence.
My prayers for all those who deal with this grim reality. They stand on the front lines, doing battle with a scourge.
Vietnamese family tests negative for bird flu
Posted: 31 December 2006 1426 hrs
HANOI : A Vietnamese family has tested negative for bird flu, a health official said Sunday, after their hospital admission with respiratory ailments had sparked fears of a resurgence in human infections.
The mother and her three children fell ill a week earlier after eating a chicken that had died on their farm in Ca Mau, one of three southern provinces where the H5N1 strain of the virus has killed poultry this month.
But tests at Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institut found that the family was not infected with the avian influenza virus, which between 2003 and 2005 killed 42 people in Vietnam, said the institute's Dr Phan Van Tu.
"All four people, the mother and her three children from Ca Mau province, on Saturday tested negative for the H5N1 virus," Tu told AFP. "They were suffering normal pneumonia." - AFP/ch
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/250001/1/.html
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A bit of good news.
MA
What a relief! Thank you for the followup.
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