The National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control called for measures to be taken to prevent A/H5N1, H7N9, and H10N8 flu from spreading from China into Vietnam. The call was released in a recent directive by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, who is also the head of the Committee.     The risk of penetration of A/H7N9 and H10N8 into Vietnam in the near future is very high, especially in northern provinces that border China, the committee said.

Penetration can occur through poultry smuggled from China into such Provinces and cities as Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Hanoi, and Hai Phong. 

The ministry asked local authorities of all localities, especially those mentioned above, to take effective measures to prevent the possible penetration of H7N9 and H10N8. In provinces bordering China, concerned agencies should tighten animal quarantine and take samples of poultry and poultry products smuggled or imported from avian flu-hit countries for testing to detect H5N1, H7N9, and H10N8 flu viruses.

All poultry and poultry products that have not undergone animal quarantine or from unknown origins are banned from trade and transport without exception.

Local authorities should order the vaccination of poultry in areas vulnerable to avian flu, in accordance with instructions provided in Official Letter No 1816/TY-DT dated October 21, 2013 by the Veterinary Department.

The Ministry of Information and Communication is required to direct its units from central to local levels to provide the public with information about the harmful effects of avian influenza, warn them not to eat sick or dead poultry, and ask them to inform authorities of any deaths of poultry or any outbreak of avian flu.

If anyone is facing any problems in avian flu prevention and control, local authorities or agencies should refer them to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for coordination and to settle the issue.

47 die of H7N9 flu in China

So far this year, cases of H7N9 avian flu in humans have been recorded in 12 provinces in China, affecting 140 people of whom 47 have died.

There have been two H7N9 flu patients in Hong Kong Special Administrative Zone and another patient in Taiwan.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an elderly woman in China has died of the H10N8 strain of bird flu, the first ever reported human infection from that strain of the virus.

The 73-year-old died in Jiangxi Province’s capital of Nanchang on December 6, six days after contracting the disease, the WHO said, adding that the specific source of the woman's infection is unknown. H10N8 avian virus has been found in birds since 1965 in at least seven countries including China, the WHO said.