Ducks in Vietnamese southern province contract bird flu viruses

At least 45 ducks in Vietnam's southern Ben Tre province have been infected with bird flu viruses, local newspaper Youth reported Monday.

Specimens from the ducks in a farm in Thanh Phu district, which were bird flu vaccinated last month, have been tested positive to H5N1, the paper quoted head of the provincial Veterinary Bureau, Mai Van Hiep, as saying.

The local veterinary force has culled all of the ducks, and took specimens from other duck flocks in the area for bird flu testing, he said.

Vietnam will form anti-bird flu task forces at both central and local levels to stamp out any disease outbreaks timely and comprehensively.

Bird flu outbreaks, starting in Vietnam 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 the country was in December 2005, according to the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Source: Xinhua