Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Vietnam reports 74 flu type A infections and suspects
Vietnam detected a total of 74 cases of flu type A infections and suspects by Monday afternoon, reported the country's Central Television Station on Monday.
Vietnam detected a total of 74 cases of flu type A infections and suspects by Monday afternoon, reported the country's Central Television Station on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City alone had 29 flu type A infections and suspects, including four H5N1 infections out of a total of 10 confirmed cases nationwide, it said.
However, the number of H5N1 cases could have been 11, according to Tran Tinh Hien, deputy director of the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, who told Xinhua that an 18-year-old man, who died on Monday, was infected with H5N1.
Vietnam's Central Veterinarian Department said that, by Monday afternoon 48 cities and provinces nationwide were stricken by bird flu, which had infected more than 7 million fowls.
To cope with the spread of bird flu, the country's national steering committee, headed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo, held its first meeting on Monday, discussing bolder measures to be taken shortly.
The measures include issuing a uniform standard on poultry-culling procedures, limiting vehicles, even banning them from going through affected areas, banning the transport of fowls in non-affected localities to others, and establishing a propaganda sub-committee to daily disseminate information about bird flu situations and proper preventive measures.
Local cities and provinces are strengthening operations to rapidly kill all poultry and poultry products in affected areas and surroundings within a radius of three kilometers from centers of the outbreak, and to early detect cases of transporting fowls.