HANOI, July 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Bird flu has reoccurred in Vietnam's five southern provinces and one central province, infecting around 20,000 poultry in recent days.

    The southern provinces of Dong Thap, Can Tho, Tien Giang, Bac Lieu and Vinh Long and the central province of Quang Ngai are stricken again by bird flu, said an official from the Ho Chi Minh City-based Regional Veterinary Center on Thursday.

    Now, veterinary departments in the six bird flu-hit provinces are actively culling sick fowls and urging local farmers to destroy, not to trade them. By Wednesday, Bac Lieu had culled around 5,000 fowls, and Tien Giang destroyed 4,410 poultry.

    The official said that bird flu is likely to spread to other provinces in July and August because avian influenza viruses stillexist in fowls, mainly ducks.

    The situation is worsen by the fact that the number of fowls insouthern provinces has increased very rapidly, and that many farmers tend to sell infected chickens, instead of killing them.

    By Wednesday, nearly 10,000 sick fowls had been sold in markets by local residents in Bac Lieu which saw chickens dying en masses in farms on June 17-26, even 1,000 in a peak day, said the provincial veterinary department.

    To deal with the situation, local authorities are more active in culling poultry in affected farms, disinfecting cages, controlling the transport and trade of fowls, monitoring the import of baby poultry. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked localities to put their anti-bird flu steering committees into operation again.

    The country's Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute said no cases of people contracting bird flu during the new outbreak have been detected. However, it advised local residents to avoid contacting sources of diseases, and keep fit by using medicines to disinfect their noses and throats, and not eating meat and eggs of sick animals.

    In late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu that killed 17 percent of its poultry population, and claimed 16 human lives since its outbreak in last December. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing the local poultry industry to suffer direct losses of 1.3 trillion VND (82.8million US dollars). Enditem