Bird flu outbreak casts pall over Tet
The Ministry of Health has urged municipal and provincial people’s committees, health departments and citizens across the country to take preventions against a possible bird flu over the next 16 days ahead of the Lunar New Year and duringthe first months of the new year.

Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Health has urged municipal and provincial people’s committees,
health departments and citizens across the country to take preventions against
a possible bird flu over the next 16 days ahead of the Lunar New Year and
duringthe first months of the new year.
Tran Dac
Phu, Director of the ministry's Department of Preventive Medicine, said
that the urgent recommendation came after evaluations during the late months of
2017 and early 2018 showing that newly-emerging infectious
diseases such as Mers-CoV continue to be reported in the Middle East,
along with influenza A/ H7N9 in China, nld.com.vn online newspaper
reported.
Meanwhile in
Vietnam, influenza A / H5N1 and A / H5N6 continue to occur in poultry in
many areas and are at risk of transmission to humans.
According to
Phu, from January 17 to 19, bird flu was detected at a poultry-breeding farm in
Dien Chau district, the central province of Nghe An.
Nearly 200
of the 800 poultry at the farm died, while the farm’s owner reported his
poultry herd wasn’t vaccinated against bird flu.
The
Department of Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development has warned that many types of influenza A /H7N9 virus and other
highly virulent strains such as A/ H5N2, A/H5N8 that haven’t yet appeared in
Việt Nam are at risk of entering the country.
The main
route of transmission was smuggling of poultry and unknown-origin poultry
products. Therefore, the Department of Animal Health asked local authorities to
be active in prevention and controlling the threat of bird flu outbreaks,
strengthen inspection and strictly tackle poultry smuggling and illegal
transporting.
Local
authorities and relevant departments should closely monitor the situation to
ensure timely action against outbreaks.
About the
possibility of a bird flu outbreak in the Tet period and first months
of the new year, the Ministry of Health warned the disease could present a
complicated challenge due to the spring weather, people’s over-use of food
during and after Tet holidays and high travel demand. All these
factors increase the risk of transmission.
Nguyen Van Kinh, Director of the Central Tropical Disease Hospital,
said the cold and humid weather was creating conditions for influenza viruses
to develop. At some clinics, many patients were reported with seasonal
influenza viruses such as H1N1 and H3N2, but the clinical symptoms were very
severe.
According to
health experts, the virus strain of A / H7N9 is one of the major threats in the
world. Influenza A/H7N9 was recorded in 2013 in China but
hasn’t been controlled yet.
In 2017, influenza A/H7N9 outbreak in China, including two border provinces with Việt Nam, with 100 deaths were reported.
In 2017, influenza A/H7N9 outbreak in China, including two border provinces with Việt Nam, with 100 deaths were reported.
The World
Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) have warned that the influenza A / H7N9 virus strain has
changed from low to high virulence in both poultry and humans. It can kill 100
per cent of infected poultry and can transmit 100-1,000 times faster than a low
virulence virus. People with this flu may develop edema, heart failure, severe
liver failure, coma and death, according to two organizations.
Epidemiological
assessments of the flu epidemic are difficult to predict because of differing
virulence in influenza strains. For example, the A/H1N1 flu is dangerous at
first, but actually the mortality rate is low, only 0.09 percent. Meanwhile,
H5N1 has a mortality rate of 70 percent to 90 percent, even up to 100 per
cent at some periods. H7N9 also reported a mortality rate of 50 – 60 percent.
“So far, the
world has recorded many influenza pandemics. The Ministry of Health recommends
people actively prevent the flu amid the increasing number of flu cases early
this year," said Tran Dac Phu.
In
Vietnam, about 1.5 to 1.8 million cases of influenza are reported
annually and flu cases tend to increase at the time between winter and
spring.-VNA