Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam ’s animal disease watchdog issued an alert on May 8 of the high risk of widespread bird flu reemergence in the country, especially in the Mekong delta provinces.
The warning follows half of a 1,000 four-month old chicken bred in Tieu Can district of Tra Vinh province being found dead due to bird flu by the Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on May 5.
The northern Son La province and the Mekong delta provinces of Vinh Long, Tra Vinh and Can Tho city are currently fighting bird flu.
The veterinary department also reported the continued spread of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), or blue ear disease, in northern Thai Binh province, central Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, and Central Highlands Lam Dong province.
As many as 1,520 infected pigs in those provinces have been culled and 10 out of the country’s 64 provinces and cities are affected, the department said.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development continued demanding affected localities to closely monitor transport, trade and butchery of livestock to early detect new disease outbreaks.
The ministry already signed a contract with China to import 1 million doses of anti PRRS vaccine, however it also asked those affected localities to import their own vaccines to inoculate pigs bred in disease-prone areas.
Earlier, the ministry asked the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Chinese Veterinary Administration to send experts to Vietnam to help fight the blue ear disease effectively.
It reported the blue ear disease killed 20,336 pigs in 324 communes in 65 districts of 19 provinces and cities across the country in 2007. By April, more than 82,000 pigs were culled due to infection with the disease.-Enditem
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