New Bird Flu Outbreaks Across Vietnam

Via The Poultry Site :

" VIET NAM : As poultry flocks across the country are reportedly infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), people with flu symptoms are being urged to see medical advice.

Bird flu has infected flocks in southern Ca Mau and northern Nam Dinh and central Nghe An provinces, according to Viet Nam News.

"We face a high risk of a human epidemic although no new infections of A/H5N1 has been reported since March," warned National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology director, Associate Professor Nguyen Tran Hien.

The major reasons for the threat were the rise in demand for the sale, transport and slaughter of poultry as Tet, the Lunar New Year, nears and cold weather that created conditions for the virus grow and spread to humans, he said.

Figures from the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's Animal Health Department show that about 16 per cent of the country's poultry has been infected with the bird flu virus this year, about four times higher than average."