Monday, June 18, 2007

Vietnam reports 43rd victim

"Vietnam confirmed its first human death from bird flu since 2005, as the latest flare-up of the virus ravaged poultry stocks, official media said Saturday.Tests confirmed the 20-year-old from northern Ha Tay province died from the H5N1 virus on June 10, the Vietnam News Agency quoted Vice Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan as saying at a bird flu meeting.

The man's family raised about two dozen fighting cocks along with ducks, the agency said. His house and surrounding areas have been disinfected. His death brought the country's toll to 43. Vietnam had not reported a human bird flu death since November 2005, though four other people were recently infected. Two have fully recovered."

At the meeting of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Controlling Avian Influenza in Humans, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasized the need for education to raise public awareness of preventive measures. The PM has also ordered the “closure of all hatching businesses that fail to meet new guidelines, the culling of affected poultry and the reduction of free-range poultry farms”.

With outbreaks in regions sharing the Chinese border, China has strengthened measures in its southern Guangxi region, “vaccinating birds, closing markets and banning cross-border poultry trade.”

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6715338,00.html

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/06/707255/

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1953092.htm

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