Capital warned about outbreak of H5N8 avian flu strain
VOV.VN - Hanoi culled a total of 2,528 fowls throughout July after two separate outbreaks of the A/H5N8 bird flu were detected in the capital's Ba Vi district, according to information provided by the Hanoi Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary.
The department’s report indicates that since the beginning of the year, Hanoi has recorded 35 outbreaks of avian influenza across 18 communes in 10 separate districts, with approximately 69,767 fowls being culled as a result.
Nguyen Ngoc Son, head of the Hanoi Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department also warned about the high risk of an outbreak of influenza A/H5N8 in Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi as the capital currently has the largest total poultry herd nationwide at 38 million.
In the face of the situation, local people in affected areas have been urged to intensify urgent preventive measures to combat the potential spread of the avian flu.
Earlier both the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam had issued a press release urging the Vietnamese Government and the public to stay vigilance regarding the H5N8 human infection following the detection of seven farm workers being infected with the influenza A (H5N8) in a chicken farm in Russia.
The infection was touched upon in the first report by the two organizations on H5N8 poultry-to-human infection, despite the virus having been circulating among poultry and wild birds since 2016. All seven human cases were asymptomatic and to date there is no evidence to suggest that severe human infections or human-to-human transmission of this virus has ever occurred, it said.
In the report, Dr. Satoko Otsu, Team Lead of the WHO Health Emergency Programme in Vietnam also warned of vigilance against the avian flu in spite of lower risk of this strain in the country.
The bird flu infections in humans are largely associated with direct contact that people have with either infected live or dead poultry.
