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The Health Ministry said it has arranged staff to be on duty around the clock at all entry points to the country to check the body temperatures of visitors using remote temperature scanners to detect those contaminated with bird flu viruses.
Head of the Health Ministry’s Preventive Health Department Tran Dac Phu said the Ministry has also set up nine teams to cope with the H5N1 and H7N9 avian flu in northern provinces that border China, where bird flu is currently prevalent. They will also work in local provinces and cities where cases of H5N1 bird flu have been detected.
These teams have urged local authorities to take effective measures to prevent the transport and trade of illegally imported poultry and poultry products.
Every month there are about 130,000 people who enter Vietnam from China. Thus, the health authorities have arranged for staff to be on duty around the clock and for airport, seaport, and road border patrol to check the body temperatures of visitors to Vietnam using remote temperature scanners to detect those infected with bird flu viruses.
According to the results of 5,650 samples of bird flu found in Vietnam, 39 percent of the samples were of A/H3N2 avian flu strain, 28 percent were of A/H1N1, and 33 percent were of type-B flu.
No case of H7N9 has been detected in poultry or humans so far in Vietnam, and no case of infection with A/H10N8, A/H6N1, or A/H9N2 has been recorded.
The ministry is consolidating mobile teams for anti-bird flu and first aid for patients, and cooperating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to closely monitor bird flu in poultry and boost the campaign of public awareness of bird flu.
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has also asked all localities to launch a “Month of Anti-toxicity and Disinfection” at all poultry farms and areas affected by bird flu. The event will run from February 22 to March 21, 2014.
So far H5N1 has spread to 17 provinces including Phu Yen, Lao Cai, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Nam Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tay Ninh, Long An, Can Tho, Vinh Long, and Ca Mau.
Since early this year, two people have died of the H5N1 virus in Vietnam. One of the victims was a 52-year-old man in southern Binh Phuoc Province and the other was a 60-year-old woman in Dong Thap Province, also in the southern region.
Risks of H7N9 from China
Chief Representative of the World Health Organization in Vietnam Takeshi Kasai said that Vietnam is among the countries that have a high risk of transmission of the H7N9 avian flu virus in poultry. H7N9 is currently raging in China, including areas that border Vietnam.
There is a great risk of contamination in Vietnam as a large volume of poultry is smuggled from China into Vietnam via the border, Takeshi said.
In addition, Vietnam risks infection by H7N9 in areas with a large number of foreign visitors like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, since there is the possibility that some travelers may have previously contracted the virus while traveling in China.
Recently, Taiwanese and Malaysian tourists have been infected with the virus during their trips to China, Takeshi said.
Earlier this month, the Preventive Health Department warned that the epidemic can penetrate into Vietnam at any time since a large volume of people and goods, including poultry, crosses the border of the two countries everyday. Meanwhile, the trade of poultry between the two countries via the border has not been controlled well, he said.
Besides the H7N9 strain, other bird flu strains including H6N1 and H10N8 have been found in China, the official said, citing the WHO’s statistics.
The H7N9 bird flu has so far caused losses amounting to US$26 billion to China’s poultry breeding sector, he added.
So far this year, 120 cases of H7N9 have been reported in China, and at least 32 of the contaminated have died, according to UPI.
VN applies 24/7 check at entry points to prevent bird flu Related image(s)
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