Some 550 ducks in Vietnam's southern Ninh Thuan province have died with symptoms of head oedema and diarrhea over the past two days and their specimens have been taken to test for bird flu viruses, the local newspaper Youth reported Tuesday.

Bird flu outbreaks, starting in the country in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls. The last outbreak of bird flu among poultry in Vietnam was in December 2005, according to the Department of Animal Health under the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

To prevent potential bird flu outbreaks, Vietnam has recently banned transport of fowls, cattle and related products in public transport means, beefed up management and inspection of their transport, slaughtering, trade and import, combated poultry smuggling more fiercely, enforced the existing ban on raising fowls in inner areas of major cities, and continued bird flu vaccination.

In a move to prevent the disease among humans, Vietnam's National Anti-Bird flu Steering Committee has proposed relevant agencies check body temperature of those entering the country via the international airports of Noi Bai in the capital of Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam has detected 93 bird flu patients, including 42 fatalities, in 32 localities since the disease started to hit the country in December 2003, the country's Health Ministry said on Aug. 21, noting that it has seen no new human cases of infections since mid-November 2005.

Source: Xinhua