Vietnam confirms new bird flu case
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-25 14:23

Asia's deadly bird flu has infected a 21-year-old Vietnamese man and possibly his younger sister, officials said on Friday, as experts wrapped up an international conference on fighting the resilient virus.

The World Health Organisation's regional director, Dr. Shigeru Omi (L), makes comments during a press conference on the final day of the Second FAO/OIE Regional Meeting on Avian Influenza Control in Asia in Ho Chi Minh City February 25, 2005. Bird flu experts meeting in Ho Chi Minh City say the virus, which has killed 46 people in Asia since it erupted at the end of 2003, is now endemic in parts of the region despite the slaughter of 140 million birds. Sitting to the right of Omi is Samuel Jutzi, the Animal Production and Health Division director of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. [Reuters]

Tests confirmed the man from Thai Binh province, 110 km (70 miles) southeast of Hanoi, had the highly contagious H5N1 strain which has killed 13 people in Vietnam's latest outbreaks.

His 14-year-old sister was being tested for the virus after she fell ill with a severe fever, Dr Pham Van Diu told Reuters.

A Vietnamese man transporting chickens has them disinfected at Long Bien market in Hanoi, Vietnam on Friday, Feb. 25, 2005. A new case of bird flu in Vietnam on Friday heightened the sense of urgency for top health and animal experts gathered at a conference in the Southeast Asian nation with the goal of mapping out a long term strategy for fighting the deadly virus. [AP]

"Now we are disinfecting his home area. It is not clear how he was infected, but during Tet people everywhere ate chickens," Diu said, referring to the Lunar New Year holiday this month when poultry is traditionally served.

Bird flu experts meeting in Ho Chi Minh City say the virus, which has killed 46 people in Asia since it erupted at the end of 2003, is now endemic in parts of the region despite the slaughter of 140 million birds.

They no longer talk about eradicating the disease, but of containing it before it mutates into a form which can pass between humans and sets off a pandemic that could kill millions.

Vietnam, battling fresh outbreaks in 35 of its 64 provinces this year, has appealed for technical and financial help at the U.N.-sponsored meeting of scientists, animal health officials and donor governments and agencies.

The WHO's Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, Dr Shigeru Omi. Bird flu still holds many mysteries which need to be unravelled before the deadly virus can be brought under control in Asia, experts have warned. [AFP/File]

Foreign donors have been criticised for an "alarming" lack of commitment to fighting a virus the World Health Organization says poses the "gravest possible danger" to the world population.

They gave only $18 million last year, far below the $100 million needed to detect and react quickly to outbreaks.

Up to $300 million is now needed to boost surveillance systems, equip labs and vaccinate birds in six contaminated countries and to aid monitoring in four to five countries at risk, said FAO animal health chief Joseph Domenech.

"That does not include subsidies, compensation and incentives for a long-term restructuring of the industry. Those funds are several hundreds of millions of dollars," he told Reuters.

He said it was up to affected countries to draw up specific aid requests after the meeting, where donors such as the United States, Britain, Australia and Japan were to speak on Friday.

FARMING OVERHAUL

A key issue debated at the meeting was how to overhaul Asia's open-air farms, where millions of families live alongside their poultry, fuelling the spread of the disease.

The WHO wants recommendations that farmers stop raising animals together and keep birds in pens so they can't mix with wild birds or ducks believed to be natural carriers of the virus.

But implementing biosecurity measures -- everything from building closed chicken sheds and erecting bird netting to chemical baths and vaccines -- is hugely expensive in poor countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia.

But the FAO is adamant that no matter how big the task ahead, money must be found and age-old farming practices reformed.

"If we want to control avian influenza there may be people who lose their livelihoods," said Domenech, but that may be offset by growth in other sectors if bird flu is brought to heel.

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