Vietnam farmers fear new bird flu outbreak

FARMERS in Vietnam expressed concern over reports this week of bird flu outbreaks across the country.

“Outbreaks of bird flu have been rapidly spreading in nine provinces and in a major city,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Veterinary Department warned on Tuesday.

The department said the H5N1 strain has the potential to spread further because of a shortage of vaccines against the virus, which seems to have mutated into a more resistant form.

Unusual weather patterns and the movement of poultry from one place to another have also contributed to the spread of the virus, the department said.

Joseph Nguyen Van Niem, who rears ducks in Du Loc parish in Ha Tinh province, said he is extremely worried about his 650 birds as he has no access to a vaccine.

Ha Tinh is one of the provinces named by the veterinary department as being affected by the bird-flu virus.

“It will only take five of them to be infected for the whole flock to be destroyed,” Niem said.

Report from ucanews.com