| One more Vietnamese suspected to contract bird flu |
| | www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-18 08:05:40 |
HANOI, Aug. 17
(Xinhuanet) -- A child from Vietnam's southern Hau Giang province, the home to
most suspected cases of bird flu in the country, received treatment after
showing symptoms of fever and breathing difficulties.
The
two-year-old boy, who is in stable condition in the Pediatrics Hospital in the
southern city of Can Tho, was hospitalized on Aug. 14 after several poultry
raised by his family died suddenly, an official from the Hau Giang Preventive
Medicine Bureau said on Tuesday.
"The Pasteur Institute in
Ho Chi Minh is testing the samples taken from the patient for bird flu virus,"
he noted.
Since July 19, nine people from the northern
province of Ha Tay and the two southern provinces of Tra Vinh and Hau Giang were
hospitalized with bird flu symptoms, of whom six died. However, recent testing
conducted at the institute showed that two patients from Hau Giang and Tra Vinh
were tested negative for bird flu viruses.
Of the deaths,
two children from Ha Tay and a young woman from Hau Giang were caused by
infection with the H5N1 strain of bird flu, a local doctor at the Vietnam's
Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute said, explaining that further testing showed
that they contracted the H5N1, not just H5 in initial testing.
After informing the WHO about bird flu situations in
Vietnam, the country's Department of Animal Health, on Monday, had an
expert-level working session with the WHO on cooperation in
research and
coordination to prevent a bird flu outbreak among humans. A small group of WHO
experts are expected to arrive in Vietnam to offer technical assistance in the
next few days.
Eleven southern localities, including
the city of Can Tho and the provinces of Hau Giang, Long An, Bac Lieu, Tra Vinh,
Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Kien Giang and Ben Tre, have
been hit by bird flu, which has either killed or led to the forced culling of
some 63,000 fowls, mainly chickens and quails since late
June.
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 previous outbreak last December. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing direct losses of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million dollars) to the local poultry industry. Enditem |
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