UN health agency calls for heightened control in Viet Nam after new bird flu case

The United Nations health agency has called for heightened control measures against bird flu in Viet Nam following informal reports of a new human case, warning that increases in poultry marketing, transportation, and consumption with the approach of the Lunar New Year in February create conditions favouring its spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted that the latest reported case was the first detected in Viet Nam since early September and coincided with several fresh poultry outbreaks reported in southern provinces of the country in December.

WHO has warned several times over the past year of the potential evolution of the virus into a human pandemic which, in the worst scenario, could have a devastatingly deadly result.

Since January of this year, 28 human cases have been detected in Viet Nam. Of these, 20 were fatal. Thailand has also reported human cases, bringing the total in Asia for the year to 45 cases, of which 32 have been fatal. The outbreaks resulted in the deaths or culling of more than 100 million birds.