Marek, a highly contagious viral neoplastic disease in chickens caused by a herpes virus, has infected fowls in two southern Vietnamese provinces of Long An and Tien Giang, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Thursday.
Initial tests on thousands of chickens that died in the two localities since late last month showed that the fowls contracted the disease, the paper quoted Hoang Van Nam, vice head of the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as saying.
The disease has suspectedly affected 120,000 chickens raised by 49 households in Tien Giang's Cho Gao district, of which 40,000 died.
The department is drafting an instruction to help farmers recognize the disease's symptoms and teach them ways to protect their poultry.
Young birds are vulnerable to the Marek disease. Most of infected fowls will die.
Source: Xinhua
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