Vietnam on alert after latest human bird flu death

Authorities in Vietnam have confirmed the death of a man from bird flu, the country's 43rd victim of the deadly virus.

The man from Ha Tay province, close to Hanoi, is the first human death from the disease in Vietnam since November 2005.

The twenty year old was apparently diagnosed with the virus on June 2nd and was then transferred to the National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital six days later.

He is the first Vietnamese to die from the deadly virus in 17 months; of four others with the virus who were detected early, two have recovered and two remain in hospital.

It has been reported that the man's family bred fighting cocks and ducks.

Vietnam has earned worldwide praise for successfully containing the epidemic with its aggressive measures to protect against the spread of the bird flu.

Since the virus reappeared in 2003 culling and mass vaccination have kept the spread of the bird flu under control.

Those early outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu infected 94 people and killed at least 42 others and killed or led to the culling of more than 50,000 birds.

Although the H5N1 virus is highly pathogenic it remains at present a disease of birds and people only become infected when they handle diseased birds.

However experts fear that the virus will ultimately mutate into a more dangerous strain, able to transfer between humans, leading to a world flu pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

According to the World Health Organization, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 191 people worldwide, with Indonesia the hardest hit with 80 deaths from the virus.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered urgent measures to contain the disease's spread and wants efforts intensified to raise public awareness of preventive measures and the closure of all poultry farms which fail to meet safety standards.

He has also asked local authorities to tighten checks on the transport and slaughter of poultry to contain the spread and to continue to vaccinate poultry.

None of the five cases, including the fatality, have as yet been confirmed by the World Health Organization as bird flu.

The recent outbreaks appeared in early May in 18 of the country’s 64 provinces and cities, mostly among ducks and other waterfowl not vaccinated; according to government reports the virus has now spread to 14 provinces in northern Vietnam.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also blames the recent outbreaks on unvaccinated ducks grazing in newly harvested rice paddies and experts have warned that ducks can be "silent carriers" of bird flu, spreading the virus through their feces as they wander across rice fields and ponds while showing no symptoms of illness themselves.

The FAO says Vietnam must keep up the surveillance and response mechanisms, and says its vaccination campaigns should match breeding cycles.