After seeing no bird flu outbreaks for nearly one year, Vietnam detected that two southern provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu have recently been affected by the disease which has killed over 6,000 fowls, according to a local veterinary agency on Wednesday.

The disease broke out in Ca Mau's Tran Van Thoi district on Dec. 6, killing 490 chickens and 2,033 ducks, and stroke Bac Lieu's Hoa Binh district on Dec. 7, killing 3,550 out of 4,450 ducks raised by five local households, said the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Recent tests show that the affected poultry were infected with bird flu virus H5N1, the department said, adding that "all the poultry were over one month old, which had been hatched unlawfully by local people and had not been vaccinated against bird flu."

According to the department, the risk of bird flu spreading in the southern Mekong Delta is very high because local people have thrown dead fowls in canals, which could have distributed viruses elsewhere. Moreover, ongoing cold weather is favorable for their development and spread.

Although the two-stage vaccination among chickens and ducks nationwide in 2006 has been completed, the risk is still high because many flocks of poultry, mainly ducks, are hatched by local people despite a national ban on waterfowl hatching, the department said.

To deal with the situation, the ministry has asked relevant ministries, sectors and localities nationwide to resume operation of anti-bird flu steering committees at different levels, and strengthen surveillance to early spot and then rapidly isolate and contain outbreaks.

The ministry has also required localities to quickly vaccinate any unvaccinated fowls in their territory, intensify disinfection and detoxification in high-risk areas, farms, slaughterhouses, poultry processing facilities and markets.

Relevant ministries and sectors have been urged to monitor the transport, trade and slaughtering of poultry and related products, fight against smuggling of fowls and cattle, enforce the ban on waterfowl hatching, and step up public awareness about safe animal raising and ways of detecting disease outbreaks and stopping them.

Veterinary bureaus and local authorities at grassroots levels should be responsible for bird flu outbreaks in their territory, according to the agriculture ministry.

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 in 2005 was in December, according to the ministry.

Source: Xinhua