An outbreak of avian flu (A/H5N1) has been reported in the northern province of Bac Ninh province.

The latest outbreak brought the total number of affected provinces to six, including Bac Ninh, Ca Mau, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Khanh Hoa and Tuyen Quang, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Health Department.

Authorities in Bac Ninh province said the epidemic has killed more than 200 chickens owned by a family in Da Cau hamlet, Nam Son Commune. An additional 200 birds had to be culled.

The local Animal Health Unit vaccinated all of the remaining birds in the commune, set up check-up points and postponed all poultry sales at markets in the commune.

The director of the Preventive Medicine and Environment Department under the Ministry of Health, Nguyen Huy Nga, said that there was a high risk the flu could spread to other localities because winter-spring weather conditions would create favourable conditions for the flu virus to develop.

Meanwhile, unquarantined poultry were still on sale in many market, making it easy for more people to be affected by the flu, he said at a national workshop on preventing human infection of avian influenza in Hanoi last week.

“People in many localities, particularly those in remote and mountainous areas, continue to slaughter and eat sick poultry,” he added.

Four people were diagnosed with A/H5N1 since early this year. One 38-year-old patient from the southern province of Tien Giang province died as a result of the illness./.