- HANOI, Vietnam - Bird flu
has killed one more person in Vietnam as the country began a mass vaccination
of poultry to try to slow the spread of the virus, health officials said
on Tuesday.
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- A 35-year-old man from the southern Mekong Delta province
of Ben Tre, who died on July 31, tested positive for the H5N1 flu virus
on Saturday, said Phan Van Tu, chief virologist at the Pasteur Institute
in Ho Chi Minh City.
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- The death brings the regional human toll to 61.
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- Nguyen Huu Sinh, director of Ben Tre provincial Preventive
Medicine Centre said the man fell ill July 25, a week after he butchered
and ate two dead chickens given to him by his mother and a neighbour.
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- The man was admitted to a provincial hospital a day before
he died, he added.
-
- Sinh said local health officials have disinfected the
man's house and surrounding areas and conducted surveillance of the people
who were in contact with him.
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- Mass vaccination
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- Last week, Vietnam began a mass vaccination of millions
of chickens and ducks in two provinces to try to slow the spread of the
virus, which has killed 42 people in the communist country since late 2003.
-
- If the vaccination produces positive results, Vietnam
plans to extend the programme to most other provinces by the end of the
year.
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- The World Health Organisation has repeatedly warned that
avian influenza could mutate and become easily spread from person to person,
sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions. So far, most human
cases have been linked to contact with sick birds.
-
- The death comes days after a researcher in the United
States announced that a bird flu vaccine had shown positive results in
humans. The vaccine is difficult to produce and is only effective if given
in large doses, but the WHO praised it as a good first step.
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- http://www.news24.com/News24/World/New
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