Vietnam : VN's Bird Flu Control Measures Largely Successful

Via The Poultry Site :

" VIETNAM: There were marked differences in the within-flock transmissibility of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 before and after the introduction of a control policy that included vaccination, say researchers who have evaluated the control of the infection in Viet Nam.

Dr R. Soares Magalhaes of the UK's Royal Veterinary College and colleagues there and at FAO in Rome have studied the control of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in Vietnam in terms of virus transmission within infected flocks reported before and after vaccination. Their paper is published in BMC Veterinary Research. In the introduction to their paper, the researchers explain that currently, the HPAI virus of the sub-type H5N1 is believed to have reached an endemic cycle in Viet Nam.

They used routine surveillance data on H5N1 poultry outbreaks in that country to estimate and compare the within-flock reproductive number of infection (R0) for periods before (second epidemic wave, 2004-5; depopulation-based disease control) and during (fourth epidemic wave, beginning 2007; vaccination-based disease control) vaccination."