Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities have detected the H5N1 avian
flu virus in a flock of ducks on a farm in the southern province of
Ca Mau, a government official said Friday.
Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of Vietnam's Animal Health
Department, said inspectors had found on September 22 that bird flu
had killed more than 50 of 500 ducks on a Ca Mau farm.
All the ducks at the farm were ducklings under 45 days old, and
had thus not been vaccinated yet, Nam said.
Authorities have culled all the ducks at the farm.
'Bird flu occurs occasionally in Vietnam,' Nam said. 'We cannot
extinguish it, but only limit its spread.'
On September 7, the Animal Health Department announced it had
detected bird flu in a flock of 600 ducks on a farm in the southern
province of Ben Tre, adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Nam, bird flu outbreaks have been detected in 26
Vietnamese provinces since the beginning of 2008, killing 5 people
and forcing authorities to cull more than 60,000 ducks.
H5N1 mainly affects poultry and wild birds, but can infect humans
who have close contact with sick fowl. Scientists fear that if it
spreads unchecked, the disease could mutate into a form which could
be transmitted between humans, leading to a worldwide pandemic that
could kill millions.
Bird flu has infected 105 people in Vietnam and killed at least 51
of them since it first appeared in the country in late 2003.
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