Bird flu infects chickens near Vietnam capital

HANOI, Mar 6 (Reuters) Bird flu has infected chickens in a second province near the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, the country's latest case in the past three weeks, a provincial animal health official said today.

''We had a report from a farmer that several chickens had died and a test later confirmed they had bird flu,'' said Nguyen Huy Dang, Animal Health Department director in Ha Tay province southwest of Hanoi.

Workers slaughtered the entire flock of 550 chickens at the farmer's house on February 27, Dang said. Ha Tay is the largest poultry supplier to Hanoi.

In late February workers killed 10,500 chickens in Hai Duong province east of Hanoi after they were found to be infected with the H5N1 virus. On Friday, the Agriculture Ministry said 800 ducks were slaughtered in the southern province of Vinh Long.

Vietnam has had no human cases since November 2005 but bird flu, which first arrived in late 2003, returned to poultry in the southern region late last year.

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said last week that the H5N1 virus exists everywhere in Vietnam, even though the Southeast Asian country has been viewed as a model where poultry vaccination has helped prevent the spread of bird flu.

Vietnam is expected to start its next phase of vaccinating poultry in the second half of March. Vietnam will allow the resumption of raising and hatching of waterfowl from March 15.

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.

Vietnam's neighbour Laos yesterday reported its first human death from bird flu in the capital Vientiane.

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 BDP SSC1033