Spread of H5N1 Bird Flu Near Can Tho City Ducks in Vietnam
Recombinomics Commentary
January 7, 2005
>>The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the southern provinces of Binh Phuoc, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Long An and Dong Thap, and Can Tho city, have 20 communes infected by the disease.
In Can Tho city, tests on poultry samples taken from the Co Do poultry farm in Vinh Thanh district, Phu Thu ward in Cai Rang precinct, Dinh Mon commune in Co Do district and Trung Kien commune in Thot Not district showed that ducks in these localities have contracted the H5 virus. The H5 virus was also detected in serum samples of 460 other ducks in Tan Tao A ward, Tan Binh precinct, on Jan.5. <<
The detail release above would place the latest bird flu outbreaks in the Mekong Delta poultry rich region with some spread northward toward the Central Highlands. However, at the center of the region are the H5N1 infected ducks located around Can Tho city. This area has reported close to 50% of the ducks sampled as being H5N1 positive. This area of concentrated H5N1 is midway between the two case clusters in Dong Thap and Tra Vihn / Tien Giang.
If these ducks are asymptomatic, controlling the spread of H5N1 would be challenging..
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