Foot-and-mouth disease, bird flu and
blue-ear syndrome are becoming more pervasive nationwide, says director of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Health Department Hoang
Van Nam.

An animal health worker vaccinates a cow against foot-and-mouth disease in Central Highland Kon Tum Province. The disease has hit 25 cities and provinces nation-wide, a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development report said. (Photo: VNS)

The
country did not have enough vaccines to properly combat poultry and cattle
diseases and local authorities intentionally have not reported what was actually
happening to the public despite the outbreak of the diseases, Nam said.

Simultaneous outbreaks of poultry and cattle related diseases in many countries
had led to an increase in price and decrease in supply of vaccines, he said.

Official
statistics from the department show that more than 15,000 chickens with the
A/H5N1 virus have been culled in eight provinces since the middle of February.

As many
as 66,000 cattle contracted foot-and-mouth disease in 25 provinces within one
month.

Central
Ha Tinh Province has reported that livestock in the locality had been found with
blue-ear pig disease.

“The
viruses that cause foot-and-mouth disease are mutating this year. The virus is
able to spread faster not only in cows and buffaloes but also in pigs,” he said.

The
death rate for pigs that contract the foot-and-mouth disease is 75 per cent
whereas it is five per cent with cows and buffaloes.

The
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ordered the Animal Health
Department to quickly find suitable vaccines that could be used to combat the
spread of the virus.

“It is
not necessary to slaughter all the cattle infected with foot-and-mouth disease;
we can eat their meat if it is cooked properly,” said agriculture minister Cao
Duc Phat.

“We need
to instruct people how to hygienically slaughter cattle infected with
foot-and-mouth disease,” he said.

The
department is also required to publish material that will teach people how to
prevent the disease from spreading.

In a
related move, the Animal Health Department along with United Nations agencies
yesterday launched a campaign to “improve public awareness about consuming
quarantined poultry” in Ha Noi.

The
campaign aims to call upon all restaurants nationwide, especially in Ha Noi, to
use quarantined poultry from clear origins.

As
estimated, 60-70 per cent of poultry is quarantined before being consumed in Ha
Noi.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News