Vietnam declares itself free of bird flu without UN blessing
Vietnam declares itself free of bird flu without UN blessing
Margie Mason
Associated Press
Hanoi, Vitnam
Vietnam on Tuesday declared itself free of a deadly bird flu
that killed 16 people here, despite repeated warnings from
international experts that such an announcement was premature
because the virus could easily resurface.
"Bird flu among poultry on the nationwide scale is over,"
Minister of Agriculture Le Huy Ngo said at a press conference.
"All the activities of breeding, transportation, processing,
circulation and consumption of poultry returns to normal."
No new outbreaks in poultry have been reported since Feb. 26.
However, no explanation was given for the March 15 death of a 12-
year-old boy in Tay Ninh province who tested positive for the
disease. The government has not acknowledged the death, confirmed
by test results at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City,
saying only they are "clarifying" the case.
Vietnamese officials made ridding the country of bird flu a
top priority after Prime Minister Phan Van Khai set the end of
February as a deadline for eliminating the disease that has
decimated poultry stocks across the region, hitting Vietnam the
hardest.
The virus jumped from poultry to people here and in Thailand,
killing 24 in total. It also resulted in the mass cull of some 43
million poultry in Vietnam - 15 percent of the country's stock.
The avian influenza has cost Vietnam an estimated 1.3 trillion
dong (US$83.9 million) in damages.
In contrast to when Vietnam won international praise for
becoming the first country to declare itself free from SARS
nearly a year ago, U.N. health and agriculture experts have
cautioned the communist country about announcing it is clear of
bird flu.
"Returning to normal without having a cautious approach and
careful surveillance does bring a risk of outbreaks recurring,"
said WHO epidemiologist Peter Horby. "We've said all along that
we recommend great caution in restocking activities because we
can't be sure there's no virus remaining."
World Health Organization (WHO) and U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) officials have stressed that avian influenza
is a far different disease than severe acute respiratory
syndrome, which killed five and sickened another 58 here last
year. SARS remained largely concentrated inside one hospital and
all cases were traced back to one patient in Hanoi.
Bird flu, however, fanned nationwide, affecting farms in 57 of
the nation's 64 cities and provinces, and experts say the virus
could easily flare up again.