Bird Flu Deaths

[Pattayaman]

By Bui Minhlong

HANOI, Aug. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam's Ministry of Health informed the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday that three recent deaths from flu-like illness were caused by infection with bird flu.

They are the first officially reported cases of the disease in the country since late February.

Eight local people from the northern province of Ha Tay and the two southern provinces of Hau Giang and Tra Vinh were hospitalizedfrom July 19 to August 8 after showing flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough and breathing difficulties, of whom six already died.Of the deaths, three resulted from infection with bird flu.

Samples taken from two victims from Ha Tay and one from Hau Giang were tested positive to flu type A sub-type H5, an official from the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health said on Friday, noting that a four-year boy and a one-year girl from the northern province died of bird flu after having contacts with fowls and then showing symptoms of prolonged fever and damaged lungs.

"Initial tests have identified the virus as belonging to the H5subtype. Further testing is needed to determine whether the virus belongs to the same H5N1 strain that caused 22 cases, with 15 deaths, in Vietnam and 12 cases, with 8 deaths, in Thailand earlier this year," the WHO said in a statement, adding that so far H5N1 is the only strain of the H5 subtype known to jump directly from infected poultry to cause illness in humans.

The boy named Nguyen Duc Long and his family members ate sick chicken raised by them three times last month. He was hospitalizedon July 25 after having a temperature for a week. The girl called Nguyen Thi Hue, whose family raises over 20 geese, was admitted tohospital on August 2 after having a high temperature in late July.

"The confirmation of these latest human cases underscores the risk of virus transmission to humans from infected poultry. Of greatest concern is the risk that continuing transmission of the virus to humans will give avian and influenza viruses an opportunity to exchange genes, potentially giving rise to a new virus with pandemic potential," said the statement.

Now, Hau Giang is hardest hit by flu-like illness, although only one patient in the province was confirmed to contract bird flu. As of Thursday, a total of 5 local residents in Hau Giang, which has recently faced nine bird flu outbreaks in some districts,had been hospitalized for pneumonia treatment, said an official from the provincial People's Committee.

Hau Giang's healthcare authorities have taken preventive measures. They have sprayed chemicals around houses of the victims,monitored people who had close contracts with the patients, and disinfected poultry farms. The province, which has recently found the H5 virus in quails, has slaughtered nearly 17,000 fowls out ofits total poultry population of over 1 million.

To deal with further spread of bird flu among poultry flocks and potential spread from fowls to humans, the Vietnamese government has taken proactive measures. On Thursday, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai sent an urgent telegram, asking for effortsto keep surveillance in all administrative levels from provinces to communes, even hamlets.

Regarding suspected human cases, healthcare forces should timely detect and treat people with bird flu symptoms. If tested positive to the viruses, they must be isolated to prevent possibletransmissions.

The prime minister also urged the Ministry of Education and Training as well as mass media to raise public awareness about thecurrent bird flu situations and food safety.

Many foreign and local experts attributed the relapse of bird flu in Vietnam, starting in late June 2004, mainly to the existence of disease sources among current fowl flocks which were hard hit by the previous outbreak in late December, and the carelessness of local residents in raising, trading and transporting poultry and eggs.

"Some localities have not completely obeyed our strict regulations on recovering poultry flocks relating to baby fowls and environment. All of the new outbreaks have occurred at small-scale farms which have not taken full preventive measures," Bui Quang Anh, director of Vietnam's Department of Animal Health, toldXinhua recently.

Not long after Vietnam declared an end to bird flu in late March 2004, a number of its localities, especially ones in the Mekong Delta actively engaged in recovering their poultry flocks.

Recovering poultry populations in the southern province of TienGiang goes too fast, Nguyen Van Khang, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said, noting thatthe province has raised 1.5 million fowls after the previous bird flu outbreak. Since the end of the previous outbreak, the southernprovince of Dong Thap has seen an addition of more than two million poultry, 300,000 higher than the figure of fowls culled during the outbreak.

In late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu that killed 17 percent of its poultry population, and claimed 16 human lives, including 15 deaths confirmed by the WHO. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing the local poultry industry to suffer direct losses of 1.3 trillion VND(82.8 million dollars). Enditem