Vietnam contains bird flu in south, but warns others

By Muklis Ali

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam says it has contained bird flu more than two months after the H5N1 virus resurfaced in poultry in the southern region, but officials warned on Tuesday that cases could emerge elsewhere in the country.

"Bird flu epidemic recurred in the Mekong delta provinces from Dec. 6, 2006 but now it has been contained," Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said in a statement.

"However, the risk of recurrence nationwide is high because the demand for trading and transport of poultry and their products is increasing," Phat said.

Last Friday, David Nabarro, U.N. coordinator for avian and human flu, said this season's wave of bird flu had largely passed through the poultry trade.

Vietnam, which has recorded the second-highest number of human deaths from H5N1 after Indonesia since the virus first hit in 2003, has not had a human case since November 2005.

The Animal Health Department said on Tuesday that all the southern Mekong delta areas where poultry had been infected since December have passed a safe period of 21 days without a new case.

The announcement will allow the resumption of poultry trade in all the six provinces and Can Tho city.

Consumption of poultry, Vietnam's traditional offering to ancestors, often rises significantly around the Lunar New Year festival, which this year falls between Feb. 16 and Feb. 21.

Agriculture officials say new outbreaks could hit the Southeast Asian country in March after a ban on hatching waterfowl is lifted at the end of this month and when the effect of the most recent poultry vaccination phase expires.

The virus was found mainly in ducks. Some ducks can carry the virus without showing symptoms. They excrete the virus in their droppings as they paddle through muddy rice paddies looking for insects and leftover grain.

Mekong delta farmers are expected to accelerate the harvesting of their winter-spring rice crop from late this month and the harvest will peak in March.

A total of 166 people have died from bird flu since 2003 in 10 countries mostly in Asia, the World Health Organisation said.