Vietnam has recently detected a small number of chickens being infected with bird flu virus strain of H5, and remained highly alert for potential new outbreaks in winter when weather conditions favor the development of viruses.

    Twenty chickens raised by a household in Binh Thuy district in the southern city of Can Tho were found to have been affected by H5 in mid-November, all of them were already killed, local newspaper Liberation Saigon on Thursday quoted the country´s Department of Animal Health as saying.

    To prevent new outbreaks, Vietnam is intensifying anti-bird fluactivities such as frequently disinfecting farms, monitoring the transport and import of fowls and their eggs via border gates, andraising public awareness of the disease nationwide, especially in the southern Mekong Delta. It plans to vaccinate poultry if bird flu resurgence at large-scale is reported.

    In a press briefing held in September 2004, the department saidthat after having reappeared in 11 southern localities since June 2004, bird flu no longer activated there.

    In late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu that had killed 17 percent of its poultry population, and claimed 16 human lives during the previous outbreak starting in December 2003.A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were killed, causing direct losses of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million US dollars) to the local poultry industry.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/18/content_2232931.htm