Bird flu kills ducks in southern Vietnam

HANOI, March 2 (Reuters) Bird flu has been detected in ducks in southern Vietnam more than two months since the last infection in poultry there, leading to the slaughter of 800 ducks, the Agriculture Ministry today said.

Tests found the virus in the 45-day-old waterfowl in the Mekong delta province of Vinh Long, the ministry's Animal Health Department said in a report. It said the ducks had not been vaccinated against the deadly H5N1 virus.

The 800 ducks were slaughtered and officials disinfected the affected area in Vinh Long, about 140 km (87 miles) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest urban area of about 8 million people.

Vietnam has had no human cases since November 2005 but bird flu returned to poultry in the southern region late last year and struck the northern province of Hai Duong in February, where 10,500 chickens were slaughtered to prevent the virus spreading.

''This shows bird flu virus presents everywhere and may attack, triggering outbreaks in any locality if protective measures are not fully implemented,'' Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said on Wednesday, referring to the case in Hai Duong.

In a telegraph sent to provincial authorities, Phat urged authorities to focus on this year's first phase of poultry vaccination starting in the second half of March.

Vietnamese and international public health experts believe the mass vaccination of poultry in 2005 helped stem the spread of H5N1, which killed 42 people out of 93 human cases between late 2003 and November 2005.

This week, Vietnam's neighbour Laos confirmed its first human case of bird flu and there were also reports of human infections in China and Egypt. Myanmar also reported infection in poultry, its first in a year.

Worldwide, the virus has killed 167 people since 2003, according to the UN World Health Organisation. At least 200 million birds have died or been slaughtered.

REUTERS SHB RK0910