Second bird flu outbreak in May hits Vietnam ducks

HANOI, May 13 (Reuters) Bird flu has infected three duck farms in central Vietnam, the second infection detected in the region in less than a month, the government said today.

Tests found the H5 component of the H5N1 virus among the samples taken after a total of 1,298 ducks died in the farms in Nghe An province on May 9, the Agriculture Ministry's Animal Health Department said in a report.

The fowl had not been vaccinated against bird flu, it said.

Animal health workers have slaughtered the remaining 2,500 ducks in the farms, disinfected the area and banned poultry transport from the infected area.

The H5N1 virus has killed 42 people in the Southeast Asian country since it re-surfaced in Asia in late 2003.

While more people have been confirmed as infected or killed by bird flu this year in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Egypt, Laos and Nigeria, Vietnam has had no human cases since November 2005.

The virus emerged again among ducks and chickens in the south late last year and earlier this year.

Waterfowl are a reservoir for the disease and can spread the H5N1 virus in their droppings as they roam through rice fields. Ducks often show no symptoms of sickness, making it harder to contain the virus.

The Animal Health Department said nearly half of Vietnam's 64 provinces have completed the first of a two-phase vaccination campaign which targets up to 90 per cent of the country's poultry stock this year.

As of today, Vietnam had vaccinated 111 million poultry, including 70.3 million chickens. The remainder were waterfowl, the department said.

Experts fear that if the virus mutates, it could start passing easily from one person to another and would sweep the globe, killing millions.

The virus has killed 172 people among the 291 infected people in 12 countries stretching from Asia to the Middle East to Africa. Most of deaths were in Indonesia and Vietnam, according to the World Health Organisation.

REUTERS RJ VV1023