Published Date: 2009-02-21 18:00:48
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (15): Nepal, Viet Nam
Archive Number: 20090221.0730
AVIAN INFLUENZA (15): NEPAL, VIET NAM
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In this update:
[1] Viet Nam
[2] Nepal
******
[1] Viet Nam
Date: Fri 20 Feb 2009
Source: Vietnam News Agency [edited]
<http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA200209>
New bird flu case hits Khanh Hoa
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Bird flu has emerged in central Khanh Hoa Province, raising the number of
provinces hit by bird flu to 10, according to the animal health department.
Nguyen Van Trung's unvaccinated ducks and fowls tested positive yesterday
[19 Feb 2009] for the H5N1 virus in Khanh Hoa Province's Vinh Phuong Commune.
Officials are worried because 10 days ago, upon realising that 3 fowls had
died with virus symptoms, Trung's 6-member family and their guests ate them
all. Trung threw other fowls away as they continued to die without
informing local officials, according to the province's animal health
department. Finally when 22 fowls had died he informed the department.
Yesterday, the locality decontaminated Vinh Phuong Commune and checked the
health of people who had eaten the contaminated birds. The Khanh Hoa
provincial People's Committee also asked other localities to strictly
supervise livestock breeding farms to facilitate quick discovery of, and
solutions to, epidemic outbreaks.
Bird flu has recently broken out in some Cuu Long delta provinces,
primarily infecting flocks of free-range ducks, according to the region's
animal health departments. Professor Vo Tong Xuan, former rector of An
Giang University, said free-range ducks could carry the bird flu virus to
disease-free provinces as they move to eat from harvested rice paddy fields.
"Healthy people without protective clothing and masks who come within one
metre of an infected bird are at high risk of contamination," said Tran
Tinh Hien, deputy director of HCM City Tropical Disease Hospital. Not all
fowls stricken with the virus show the symptoms, so it is necessary for
people to be equipped with anti-virus clothes, according to Hien.
Provinces with confirmed cases of bird flu include: Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa,
Thai Nguyen, Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Nghe An, Hau Giang, Quang Ninh, Bac Ninh
and Quang Tri. Approximately 30 000 fowls have been culled.
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[For maps of Viet Nam with provinces, see
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/vietnam_admin01.jpg>
and <http://www.angelfire.com/co/hongnam/vnmap.html>. The
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Viet Nam can be accessed at
<http://healthmap.org/promed?v=14.9,108.5,5>. This map shows other
outbreaks in Viet Nam and surrounding countries that have been reported on
ProMED-mail. The postings can be directly accessed through this map. - Mod.AS]
******
[2] Nepal
Date: Fri 20 Feb 2009
Source: NewKerala.com [edited]
<http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-97212.html>
Fresh bird flu scare in Nepal after lull
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Less than a fortnight [2 weeks] after Nepal's government said the situation
was under control in eastern Nepal, where the 1st bird flu outbreak was
reported last month [January 2009], fresh fears of another outbreak rose
with another village in the same area close to the Indian border reporting
poultry deaths.
"Bird flu has been detected in Sharanmati village in Jhapa district," said
Hari Dahal, spokesman at Nepal's Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry. The
village lies close to Nepal's border with India's West Bengal state, about
40 km [24.8 miles] south west of the border town of Kakarbhitta, where the
1st outbreak was reported in mid-January 2009.
During the weekend, 150 chickens died in Sharanmati, Dahal said, leading to
the government bringing samples to Kathmandu for examination. After the
tests confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus, the samples were sent to
London's Weybridge Laboratory for further tests. "They have just informed
us that all the 7 samples tested positive," Dahal said.
The government is sending a rapid action team to the village and setting up
a control room. It is going to sound a high alert and declare emergency
operations in and around the village. The culling of poultry will start
afresh in the bird flu-hit tea district and surveillance on the border
entries with India tightened.
Dahal expressed fears that the ailing birds could have been smuggled from
India for sale in Nepal. "India has bird flu outbreak in West Bengal,
Sikkim and Assam states," he said. "The birds are likely to have been
brought from there. They were hidden in a backyard." Dahal said that
Kakarbhitta, where the first outbreak was reported, leading to the
destruction of nearly 25 000 chickens and poultry products, had not
reported any fresh signs of the disease. The disease has not been reported
in humans in Nepal, the government said.
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Mary Marshall
[Nepal submitted to the OIE on 20 Feb 2009 its follow-up report No 2 on
HPAI. The report, including a map showing the location of the new outbreak,
is available at
<http://www.oie.int/wahis/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=7812>.
- Mod.AS]
See Also
Avian influenza (13): Viet Nam (BL, CM) 20090208.0576Avian influenza (08): Nepal, control 20090126.0346
Avian influenza, human (20): Nepal, susp. 20090125.0336
Avian influenza (05): Nepal, 1st outbreak 20090116.0180
Avian influenza (01): India (AS), Viet Nam 20090103.0023
2008
---
Avian influenza (131): Viet Nam (Thai Nguyen) 20081228.4088
Avian influenza (101): Viet Nam (Nghe An) 20081007.3180
Avian influenza (98): Viet Nam (Ca Mau, Ben Tre) 20080927.3061
....................arn/ejp/sh
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