Bird flu moves closer to Vietnam's largest city

HANOI, Jan 12 (Reuters) Bird flu in poultry has moved closer to Vietnam's largest urban area of Ho Chi Minh City, a government report said, extending the spread of the H5N1 virus in southern provinces in recent weeks.

An Agriculture Ministry report issued late today said tests performed after 20 chickens were found dead on Sunday on a farm in Vinh Long province confirmed the presence of the virus.

The farm is 137 km southwest of the city of about eight million people.

Officials have confirmed outbreaks of the virus in ducks and chickens in four Mekong delta provinces further southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, where market inspectors have restricted the movement and selling of poultry.

Vietnam has had no human H5N1 cases since November 2005 but the virus that first struck the Southeast Asian country in late 2003 re-emerged last month in Mekong delta poultry.

Agriculture officials have warned the country's 84 million people that the virus could spread nationwide via migrating birds.

The risk of infections could also rise before the Tet Lunar New Year festival in mid-February, where the slaughter and eating of poultry is a traditional part of the new year's feast.

Bird flu killed 42 of the 93 people infected in Vietnam in 2003-2005.

It has killed 158 people globally since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation, spreading from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

REUTERS PDM DS1305