Monday, November 26, 2007

Poultry dying en masse in Vietnam not H5N1

More than 50,000 chickens have died in southern Vietnam's Tien Giang province, but not from H5N1. The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been ruled out, though the cause has not been definitively determined.

Officials think the birds are dying of Marek's disease, for which there is no cure.

"The disease’s spread (is linked to) unhygienic conditions and cramped space where the fowls are raised. Recently, chicken prices have been rising, prompting locals to cramp more and more chickens into small quarters for better profit, which inadvertently worsened the situation," said Le Minh Khanh, deputy head of the province’s Animal Health Department.

Full story via H5N1 blog: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/11/756691/

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