Bird Flu Resurfaces with a Vengeance in Vietnam
Pastor Dale Morgan
Jun 22, 2:03 PM EDT
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Bird Flu Resurfaces with a Vengeance in Vietnam*
By MARGIE MASON
AP Medical Writer
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Bird flu has resurfaced with a vengeance in
Vietnam - with five people falling ill in as many weeks - after no human
cases had been reported for a year and a half.
Health experts say the spike is a sobering reminder that the H5N1 virus
remains deep-rooted and can kill at any time. The virus also has flared
elsewhere, with people falling ill in China, Egypt and Indonesia this
month alone. And poultry outbreaks have surfaced in Myanmar, Malaysia
and as far afield as the Czech Republic.
Vietnam, previously hailed as Asia's bright spot for beating back the
virus, has seen an unexpected surge since last month, when it reported
its first human case since November 2005. Two patients have died, two
have recovered and one is critically ill.
"It's always been lingering and loitering, but now it's striking and we
don't know why," said Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the World Health
Organization's Western Pacific region. "I think the first lead that we
might follow is, have people begun to drop their guard?"
Vietnam was blindsided when the virus began ravaging poultry stocks
across Asia in late 2003. The country logged dozens of human deaths and
suffered huge financial losses before undertaking an ambitious campaign
to vaccinate all poultry.
The plan worked well, and no outbreaks were reported throughout 2006
until the virus re-emerged earlier this year among birds. The latest
flareup began in May and has affected poultry in 18 provinces, killing
or forcing the slaughter of some 200,000 birds.
Four of the human cases were from the north and one was from central
Vietnam, raising the bird flu death toll in the country to 44.
"The virus has all the time had the capability" to infect humans, said
Hans Troedsson, WHO representative in Vietnam. "Why it happened now in
May and didn't happen in January and February, we don't know."
Agriculture officials say unvaccinated ducks are largely to blame for
the recent problems. In March, the government lifted a ban on hatching
and restocking waterfowl, which has led to more ducklings being raised
and transported without being immunized. Vaccination helps to decrease
the spread of the virus, but even that is not foolproof because ducks
must receive multiple shots each year to ensure immunity.
"It's ducks and it's the duck movement and the upsurge of ducks on the
rice farms - all these things are really the major cause of this wave,"
said Andrew Speedy, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
representative in Vietnam.
He said the government remains committed to fighting bird flu and has
bought 200 million more doses of vaccine. The prime minister also has
issued new orders for officials to increase their vigilance in a country
where many people now show little fear of bird flu.
"People keep thinking it is impossible for the virus to come back to
their villages," said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Animal
Health Department. "I think this is partly because the last time we
managed to control it, so people have been too confident."
The virus has killed at least 191 people worldwide, according to the
WHO. Vietnam's latest cases have not been added to the health agency's
tally because they have not been confirmed by an outside laboratory. The
virus remains hard for humans to catch, but experts fear it could mutate
into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a
global pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact
with infected birds.