Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Bird flu making a comeback in Vietnam

In the month of May, Vietnam witnessed the most dramatic spike in H5N1 outbreaks since the virus started reappearing in that country late last year. The H5N1 virus has been detected in 12 localities, including 2 more outbreaks confirmed today. These events prompted the Minister of Health to warn, "The risk of the epidemic's further development and spreading on a large scale is very high."

In response to these outbreaks, which have occurred primarily in waterfowl, the minister is calling for the vaccination of "100 percent of ducks" in Vietnam. From 2005 until now, Vietnam had successfully kept bird flu at bay through an aggressive campaign of mass vaccination and poultry trade restrictions.

More than 50,000 birds throughout Vietnam died from avian influenza infection or culling in this month alone.

Read more here: Vietnam issues warning over bird flu spread

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