Vietnam worries about other flu strains
Via VietNamNet Bridge: New bird flu strains may threat Vietnam.
Deputy Head of the Veterinary Agency Dau Ngoc Hoa on Tuesday warned that bird flu epidemics caused by new bird flu strains have appeared in Asia and the rest of the world and can enter Vietnam anytime.
In the past two weeks, several Asian countries and territories reported new bird flu epidemics, caused by mutated strains such as H7N3 in South Korea and H7N8 in Canada.
The Veterinary Agency warned that cold weather may harbor the return of bird flu viruses and mutated strains make the disease much more dangerous.
Vietnam plans to import H7N3 and H7N8 vaccines.
Since A/H5N1 bird flu appeared in Vietnam, it has menaced the human population, particulary in winter. Since early 2007, bird flu has elusively broken out and then been controlled several times.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced Vietnam was free of the epidemic on September 20, 2007, but it now looks like they may have jumped the gun.
The Vietnamese government has earned respect for its stubborn fight against H5N1, but when it declares an area "bird flu free" after just 21 days, it invites skepticism—and the last sentence of this report shows that the Vietnamese are skeptical too.
