While no bird flu human case has been recorded over the past eight months in Vietnam, the country is still at high risk of the epidemic among humans, according to the Ministry of Health.

 

Nguyen Tran Hien, head of the ministry’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said recently that the H5N1 virus has attacked some provinces, increasing the risk of humans contracting the disease.

 

The year-end weather, alternating between cold and warm, provided good conditions for the virus’s growth, he noted.

 

According to the ministry, there have been seven cases of the H5N1 virus in Vietnam this year, including two deaths in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Tien Giang.

 

Meanwhile, the influenza A (H1N1) virus (also known as swine flu) has affected 183 people this year, including 81 in October.

 

Eight of these people have died, the ministry said, warning that children, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases were still at the highest risks of developing complications and dying if they got inflicted with the virus.