A chicken farm (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam would place itself in a scenario in which
human bird flu infections could has been detected so as to take drastic actions
to prevent the intrusion of avian
influenza viruses that are raging in next-door neighbour China, said Deputy
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.
He made the request at a meeting on March 3 with
the Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of Dangerous and Emerging
Diseases to discuss ways to prevent highly virulent bird flu viruses which are
able to transmit to humans.
Deputy Director of the Health Ministry’s
Preventive Medicine Department Hoang Minh Duc said Vietnam has yet to detect
any A/H7N9 infections in poultry or humans. It hasn’t found any human A/H5N1 case
from the outset of 2017.
According to the Preventive Medicine Department,
the epidemic of virus was first recorded in China in March 2013 and
caused by . It has been spreading quickly in the country since
October 2016 with 449 people contracting A/H7N9 virus, including 96 deaths, in
the first two months of 2017.
The A/H7N9 epidemic is hitting China’s Yunnan
and Guangxi provinces, which border seven Vietnamese provinces (Dien Bien, Lai
Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lang Son, and Quang Ninh). About 1,000 –
10,000 people and 100 – 200 vehicles travel between the two countries through
the border gates at these Vietnamese localities each day.
Meanwhile, Vietnam recorded hotbeds of A/H5N1 virus
in poultry in seven communes and wards of six districts and townships of central
Nghe An province, Mekong delta Can Tho city, and southernmost Ca Mau province
in 2016, said the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development.
Since the beginning of 2017, has been
spotted in farms in the southern provinces of Bac Lieu, An Giang, Soc Trang,
Dong Nai, northern Nam Dinh province and central Nghe An province while A/H5N6
has been recorded in central Quang Ngai province.
Experts said some avian influenza viruses like
H7N9, H5N2, and H5N8 that have yet to be reported in Vietnam may enter the
country through smuggling as well as the trading and consumption of smuggled
poultry or fowls with unclear origin, especially in northern border provinces.
At the meeting, Deputy Minister Long said the
country has made strong moves to prevent bird flu, but the viruses are
developing complicatedly in China and could appear in Vietnam.
Though a travel warning over has yet to
be issued, people should consider restricting their travel to infected areas to
avoid contracting the viruses, he added.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
