An
Update About Bird Flu in Viet Nam
bác sĩ Phi-Huỳnh Đỗ
dear colleagues health professionals
here's an update about bird flu in Vietnam
FYI
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6760529.stm
Last Updated: Saturday, 16 June 2007, 19:57 GMT 20:57
UK Man dies of bird flu in Vietnam. The victim's family raised fighting
cocks and ducks.
A man has died of bird flu in Vietnam, in the first confirmed human death
from the virus there since 2005, health officials said. The 20-year-old
died in the northern Ha Tay province, state media reported. Bird flu has
killed 43 people in Vietnam and officials have warned of more human cases
as the virus spreads rapidly in poultry in many provinces. None of the
country's five recent human bird flu cases has been confirmed by the World
Health Organization (WHO).
Two have recovered and two are receiving treatment, Vietnamese authorities
say. Pandemic fears
The 20-year-old - the fifth case - died of the H5N1 strain of the virus
on 10 June, state-run Vietnam News Agency quoted Vice Health Minister
Trinh Quan Huan
as saying. He became ill on 2 June and died two days after being admitted
to the National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital in the capital,
Hanoi.
His family raised fighting cocks and ducks, state media said. In May,
Vietnam announced its first human case of the deadly H5N1 virus after
containing a previous outbreak since November 2005. The H5N1 strain has
killed more than 190 people since 2003, according to WHO figures. Indonesia
has been hardest hit, with 80 deaths. Scientists fear the virus could
mutate to a form which could be easily passed from human to human, triggering
a pandemic.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-06/17/content_6251784.htm
Vietnam reports first bird flu human death since late 2005
www.chinaview.cn 2007-06-17 00:49:45
HANOI, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The death of a 20-year-old man from Vietnam's
northern Ha Tay province was the first fatal case of bird flu infections
in the country since mid-November 2005, Vietnam News Agency reported Saturday.
The man from Ba Vi district who exhibited bird flu symptoms on June 2
was admitted to the Tropical Disease Hospital in Hanoi capital on June
8, and died on June 10, said Vietnamese Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan
Huan. Recent tests show that he was infected with bird flu virus strain
H5N1. Before developing the symptoms, he and his family members frequently
took care of 20 fighting cocks and some ducks at their house.
Since late 2005, Vietnam has reported five human cases of bird flu infections,
of whom one has died, two from the northern provinces of Vinh Phuc and
Thanh Hoa have been discharged from hospital, and two from the northern
provinces of Ha Nam and Thai Nguyen have still been under treatment at
the city-based hospital, said the report.
All of the bird flu patient have either had direct contact with or eaten
dead fowls. Huan said H5N1 has yet to mutate, and medicine Tamiflu is
still effective in treating bird flu patients.
Vietnam is strengthening surveillance systems at bird flu hot-spots, equipping
hospitals nationwide with more respirators, and stockpiling over 20 million
tablets of Tamiflu.
The Health Ministry said the World Health Organization has agreed in principle
to grant 2.5 million U.S. dollars to Vietnam in order to aid the country
in producing human vaccines for the disease. In their recent joint research,
the city-based hospital and Oxford University have been able to isolate
and recreate single cells from the blood of bird flu survivors that may
lead to a viable commercial human vaccine, said the report.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
------------------------------
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070616.wbirdflu0616/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070616.wbirdflu0616
Bird flu kills first human in Vietnam since 2005 HO BINH MINH
Reuters. June 16, 2007 at 1:11 PM EDT
HANOI A Bird flu has killed a 20-year-old Vietnamese man, the first death
in the country from the virus since late 2005, state-run television reported
on Saturday.
The man died last week in the northern province of Ha Tay neighbouring
Hanoi, Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan was quoted as saying. The
television report did not say how the victim became infected with the
H5N1 virus. Vietnam's program of poultry vaccination and other measures
has been described by international health experts as a model for keeping
the H5N1 virus at bay, but this year it has spread nationwide in ducks
and chickens. Saturday's report brings to five the number of human cases
announced by health authorities since May and the first fatality, raising
Vietnam's death toll since late 2003 to 43 people. The World Health Organisation
has not confirmed the latest cases. "We are aware of a number of
suspected cases but nothing can be confirmed until we have results from
our labs," WHO spokeswoman Dida Connor said in Hanoi. "We are
investigating closely. The government is working with us," she said.
In October 2005 a 35-year-old man died in Hanoi after eating a chicken
and health officials later confirmed he had the H5N1 virus. That year,
H5N1 killed 19 patients out of 61 infected. Vietnamese officials warned
early this week that more people could be infected as bird flu in ducks
and chickens has spread to nearly one third of 64 provinces and cities
since early May.
Ha Tay is not on the watch list of infected areas but the province is
the biggest poultry supplier to nearly three million people in the capital.
One of the cases, a 30-year-old man whose infection was reported on May
24, was discharged from a Hanoi hospital on June 4 after doctors said
they had cured him.
On Tuesday, health officials said two women, aged 28 and 29, had been
infected by the H5N1 virus in the northern provinces of Thanh Hoa and
Ha Nam. The two
women and an infected slaughterhouse worker have been treated in the Hanoi
hospital. Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed 191 people out of 313 known
cases, according
to a tally by the WHO. Hundreds of millions of birds have died or been
slaughtered. The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts
fear it could change
into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world,
killing millions. So far, most human cases can be traced to direct or
indirect contact with infected birds. Vietnam's Animal Health Department
said on Saturday that fresh bird flu cases had been found among chickens
and ducks in two northern provinces and another in the central region
this week. All are on the government's watch-list of 16 provinces and
two cities.
On Friday it said bird flu had spread to ducks and chickens in a farm
in Cao Bang province that borders China's southern province of Guangxi.
------------------------------
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/06/707087/
Vietnam, Japan launch bird flu treatment online discussion
16:05' 16/06/2007 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - An on-line discussion concerning human bird flu treatment
was launched on June 13 between Vietnamese health experts and their Japanese
International Health Center counterparts. Phung Minh Phuc (C), the first
H5N1 patient since May, is discharged from hospital Viet Nam has recorded
four H5N1 cases since early May. One patient, Phung Minh Phuc, a 30-year
old male from the Northern Province of Vinh Phuc was already in critical
condition when he was admitted into the Ha Noi-based Bach Mai hospital,
experts paid particular attention to this case and after 26 days of intensive
care, he recovered fully. Experts praised the Vietnamese Health Ministry
and those doctors who were directly involved in the treatment of recent
bird flu patients, stating that the treatment protocol for the H5N1 virus
type A influenza and initiatives used were valuable experience. The lessons
they learnt from successfully treating Phuc should be used to help treat
any other patients.
At the online discussion, both the Vietnamese and Japanese experts stressed
that all patients that tested positive for the H5N1 virus had had direct
contact with
sick fowls. (Source: SGGP)
------------------------------
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/06/707065/
Bird flu rears ugly head again, hitting 18th locality
15:26' 16/06/2007 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - The northern border province of Cao Bang has become
the 18th locality hit by bird flu since early May this year, said the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments Veterinary Department.
The province reported that 43 chickens and 44 ducks at a household in
Luong Thon commune, Thong Nong district, were found dead on June 11. Samples
taken from dead chickens and ducks farmed by Nong Van Binh have been returned
positive for bird flu, said the provincial veterinary department. (Source:
VNA)
------------------------------
http://www.vov.org.vn/?page=126&nid=42297
Updated, 06/16/2007, 19:30 GMT
PM orders urgent measures to stamp out bird flu Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung has urged relevant ministries, agencies and localities to take
specific measures to prevent the recurrence of bird flu which has spread
to 48 districts of 18 provinces and cities across the country.
While meeting with the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention
and Control in Hanoi on June 16, Mr Dung stressed the need to enhance
information
dissemination to raise public awareness of the dangers of bird flu and
preventative measures.
He asked the steering committee for bird flu prevention and control at
all levels to intensify inspection and take synchronous measures, including
isolating and disinfecting affected areas, vaccinating, transporting,
slaughtering and trading poultry, as well as encouraging commercial farming
practice in areas free from the epidemic. He also ordered the immediate
culling of H5N1 virus-infected poultry and appropriate compensations for
farmers.
To prevent avian and human influenza, it is imperative to strictly control
the origin of the breeds, stressed Mr Dung. The PM asked the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with relevant ministries
and sectors to study and issue regulations regarding the hatching and
breeding of waterfowls. Hatcheries will be shut down and fined if they
do not meet technical requirements.
He also required the Ministry of Health to provide detailed treatment
protocol and medical equipment for localities to cope with possible spread
of avian influenza in human and minimise fatalities. Since May, 177,442
poultry have been culled with ducks making up 96 percent.
Five human cases of H5N1 avian influenza have been reported, of whom one
had died.
------------------------------
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/200491/Default.aspx
PM requests urgent steps to contain bird flu
16/06/2007 -- 10:47 PM
Ha Noi (VNA). Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, on June 16, once again ordered
ministries, agencies and localities to take urgent steps to contain the
spread
of avian influenza. Education must be accelerated to raise public awareness
of preventive measures, the PM told a meeting of the National Committee
for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control and the National Committee
for Controlling Avian Influenza in Humans.
He ordered the closure of all hatching businesses that fail to meet new
tough guidelines, the culling of affected poultry and the reduction of
free-range poultry farms.
Since the reemergence of bird flu in the country, 106 communes in 18 provinces
have recorded outbreaks and five cases of human transmissions of the disease
have occurred, with one confirmed dead. The Ministry of Public Health
said two of the patients have been discharged from hospital, but two were
still undergoing treatment. During the meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development proposed that an additional 200 million doses of
vaccine should be imported into the country.-Enditem
------------------------------
best
Phi Huynh-do, MD, MPH
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