Vietnam has ordered farm-by-farm inspections to try to contain a growing outbreak of avian influenza, with officials on Monday blaming lack of surveillance for a recent resurgence in poultry outbreaks, REPORTED DPA. The officials said the new outbreaks show the control is not tight enough. The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus - which can infect humans in rare cases - has now been detected in 34 communes in three southern Mekong Delta provinces, despite Vietnam's aggressive vaccination campaign, officials said. Minister of Agriculture Cao Duc Phat issued a stern order assigning local authorities to inspect every poultry farm in their vicinities, including rural areas with backyard chickens. "Local officials and veterinary officials are responsible for monitoring the disease in every household and farm," Phat said in the order. "Those officials slow to report a new outbreak or disguise an outbreak will be strictly punished," he said, but did not specify any penalty. Vietnam had declared itself free of bird flu early last year after an aggressive poultry vaccination programme for 126 million chickens and ducks. However, last month the H5N1 virus reappeared in three provinces - Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang - prompting the provinces to cull at least 40,000 domestic poultry and ban the transport of poultry from the affected areas. "All the ducks found dead ... had not been vaccinated, but authorities of these districts reported that they had completed vaccination," said Nguyen Ba Thanh, deputy director of the National Department of Animal Health's office in the Mekong Delta. "The country has put a ban on hatching new water poultry, but authorities of many districts have failed to stop local farmers from doing so," Thanh added. So far, the new outbreaks have been contained in the three provinces and no human cases can be reported. Vietnam has seen 42 people and millions of poultry die of bird flu - which can be contracted by humans from contact with sick or dead birds. The new strain of avian influenza has killed at least 160 people worldwide since 2003. Scientists have warned that the virus must be contained in poultry before the it can mutate to become easily transmissible among people. If the H5N1 virus were to adapt to become contagious among humans, it could spark the first influenza pandemic in decades as it would sweep through populations with no immunity. Previous such pandemics have killed 1 million to 40 million people worldwide.
