Vietnam on high alert of avian influenza virus intrusion
The A/H7N9 and A/H5N1 avian influenza viruses may enter Vietnam through poultry smuggled from China and Cambodia and wild birds, an official from the Ministry of Heath has said.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau (VNA) –The A/H7N9 and A/H5N1 avian influenza viruses may enter Vietnam through poultrysmuggled from China and Cambodia and wild birds, an official from the Ministryof Heath has said.
During a press conference in Vung Tau city, southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinceon March 21, Dr. Pham Hung, head of the Office for Infectious Diseases Controlfrom the Department of Preventive Medicine, said the A/H7N9 virus has hitChinese localities and the A/H5N1 virus was spotted in Cambodian provinces,which border Vietnam.
Meanwhile, as of March 14, outbreaksof A/H5N1 and A/H5N7 flu were detected in fowls in Vietnam.
Hung raised the need to intensify monitoring the smuggling of poultry via transitmarkets and tracks and expanding supervision at localities bordering China andCambodia as well as poultry and poultry product wholesale markets.
He also warned people travelingto outbreak-affect localities and those who worked with poultry to reach healthcare facilities as soon as showing symptoms.
He asserted that the toughestchallenge in controlling the H7N9 virus is unobvious symptoms in affected livestock.
The Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development has strengthened supervision in markets and centres trading poultry,but no infections have been found, he said.
Monitoring activities will alsobe expanded among the communities, especially that along the border with Chinaand Cambodia, while equipment, medicine and human resources have been preparedto deal with the outbreak of the virus, said Hung.-VNA
Vietnam has suspended the imports of poultry and poultry products from the US states of Wisconsin and Tennessee which have been affected by a strain of low pathogenic H5N2 and the high-pathogenic H7 avian influenza virus.
The northern border province of Lang Son held a drill on dealing with outbreaks of A/H7N9 and other high-pathogenic avian influenza viruses in Cao Loc district on March 17.
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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
