A poultry vendor slaughters a chicken next to a cage of live chickens for sale along a road on the outskirts of Hanoi last Monday

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are urging the Vietnamese government and health agencies to work more to protect the public against bird flu.

Jean-Marc Olivé, WHO representative in Vietnam, warns that the threat that avian influenza poses to humans and poultry is highest at this time of year.

Humans are highly at risk of infection wherever there are poultry outbreaks, he says in the statement.

Andrew Speedy of the FAO says Vietnam’s animal and public health sectors need to cooperate closely to minimize the threat of the disease being transmitted from poultry to people.

Though it’s not easy for the H5N1 bird flu virus strain to infect humans, when it does occur, the fatality rate is high, approximately 50 percent, Speedy says.

Olivé also warns there is a strong possibility that the virus will mutate and become easily transmissible among people.

The two agencies advise the public to take precautionary measures for protection against bird flu including not eating, selling or buying sick or dead fowl, and immediately reporting sick or dead poultry to the relevant government agencies.

WHO and the FAO are assisting the Vietnamese ministries of Health, and Agriculture and Rural Development to strengthen their national capacity and bird flu prevention plans, according to the press release.

Since 2003, 109 human infections of bird flu have been reported in Vietnam, and 53 people have died, the latest being just last week. At the moment, 10 provinces are known to have outbreaks of the disease.

On a global scale, avian influenza has killed 254 people since 2003, not counting the latest case in Vietnam, WHO says.

Reported by Tuong Nhi