Thousands of poultry died of bird flu in the past two weeks in southern Vietnam, the government said yesterday, in the country's first reported outbreak in a year.
Tests showed that some 5,500 one-month-old ducks and 500 chickens died of the H5N1 bird flu strain in the southern Mekong Delta provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Department of Animal Health.
Not a major outbreak
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said it was not a major outbreak.
Although 42 people have died of H5N1 in Vietnam since late 2003, the Southeast Asian country has not reported any human infections since November last year, and the last reported outbreak in birds was a month later.
The government has largely curtailed the movement of bird flu through a mass vaccination campaign, but Nam warned that this time the virus could spread.
High `risk'
"The risk of the bird flu virus spreading further is very high because some farmers dumped dead ducklings into canals," Nam said.
"The cool weather and increased movement of people and poultry ahead of the Lunar New Year festival will also help the virus to spread further," he said.
The New Year holiday falls on Feb. 17.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said they were expecting some minor outbreaks to occur.
"What has been done is the right thing and has been highly successful despite this minor problem, which we were expecting to occur," said Andrew Speedy, the FAO representative in Vietnam.
"We would expect a few cases," he said.
All possible measures
Speedy said Vietnam has carried out all possible measures recommended by the FAO in trying to contain the virus.
"Vietnam has done the best possible job in this respect," he said. "It's important that the vaccination continues. It's important that surveillance is maintained."
Speedy also noted the birds that died were not vaccinated and that there have been no outbreaks among the vaccinated poultry.
Disinfected
Nam said animal health officials have disinfected areas surrounding the outbreaks and have been ordered to cull all poultry in the neighborhood.
The government last year imposed a largely ignored ban on hatching and restocking ducks and other water fowl because they can carry the virus without showing symptoms.
The ban remains in place until February next year.
The ducklings that died, which were illegally raised, had not been vaccinated, Nam said.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said