ASIA/VIETNAM - New outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam kills at least 3,000 chickens

Wednesday, 30 June 2004

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Rome (Fides Service) - According to official sources a new outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam has killed more than 3,000 chickens in different farms in the southern province of Bac Lieu. Laboratory tests show that the birds died of H5 virus. Now the Ho Chi Minh Veterinary Centre is waiting for the results of further tests to establish the exact type of virus.
The World Health Organisation says that between December 2003 and February 2004, 23 people died of infection by the H5N1 virus: 16 in Vietnam and 8 in Thailand.
The new outbreak was made known when a farmer reported on June 25 that he had lost 2,000 birds. However the FAO representative in Vietnam has said that this present variety is less virulent.
Flu caused by H5N1 virus can pass from bird to human, but not from human to human. The virus was identified for the first time in Hong Kong in 1997 and has made an annual come back since then. (AP) (30/6/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:17; Parole:189)