Clouds of houseflies from a large chicken farm are causing havoc in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, spreading sickness and annoying residents.

Locals said they have to eat under mosquito nets to keep the flies at bay.

The insects are breeding in masses of excrement at a nearby chicken farm, which keeps 65,000 fowls, locals said.

The farm owner said she used chemicals every day to clear the droppings but due to a lack of personnel she couldn’t clean the chicken coops properly.

Vice chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee, Huynh Van Tan, told Thanh Nien the farm owner had been asked to clean up the waste but nothing much had been done. Environment police also had come to investigate the case but no action had been taken, Tan said.

While authorities have not been much help in solving the problem, a local doctor has found a way to deal with the pests.

Tran Van Quy, also known as Sau Quy, applied glue, designed to catch mice, to small pieces of cardboard to trap the flies.

Quy said in three months he had used 500 cardboard “fly traps” which could kill about 1,000 flies each.

Other people have learned Quy’s method and the home-made “fly traps” have eased the situation slightly.

Nearby, Thuy Duong Restaurant’s owner said the traps had been very helpful but she had to hide them to avoid disgusting her customers.

“But even with Sau Quy’s method, we cannot eliminate the flies,” she said.

Reported by Lam Vu