Bird flu has infected flocks in
southern Ca Mau and northern Nam Dinh and central Nghe An provinces.

“We face
a high risk of a human epidemic although no new infections of A/H5N1 has been
reported since March,” warned National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology
director, Associate Professor Nguyen Tran Hien.

The
major reasons for the threat were the rise in demand for the sale, transport and
slaughter of poultry as Tet, the Lunar New Year, nears and cold weather that
created conditions for the virus grow and spread to humans, he said.

Figures
from the Agriculture and Rural Development
Ministry’s Animal Health Department show that about 16 per cent
of the country’s poultry has been infected with the bird flu virus this year,
about four times higher than average.

Many
people had been admitted to hospital with flu symptoms but it was difficult to
identify the difference between flu and birdflu, said National Tropical Diseases
Hospital director Nguyen Hong Ha.

Family
members should tell physicians and nurses if the patient had been exposed to
birds infected with the A/H5N1 virus, he said.

Such
history was a major key to identifying the infection.

At least
seven A/H5N1virus infections have been identified among humans since early this
year with two deaths - in southern Tien Giang and Binh Duong provinces.

The
Agriculture and Rural Development
Ministry wants people to notify the proper agencies instead of
slaughtering and eating birds that are ill or died of unknown causes.

People
with any symptoms of bird flu - cough, fever, or breathlessness should report to
their nearest health clinic.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News