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  PlanetArk 28 Nov 05
Vietnam City Poisons Pigeons to Prevent Bird Flu
Additional reporting by Richard Waddington in Geneva

VIETNAM: November 28, 2005 HANOI - Vietnam's commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City has begun poisoning pigeons and other wild birds as it moves to prevent avian flu from spreading into the crowded city, an official said on Friday.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has flared in 19 of the country's 64 provinces, the most recent cases being in the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Nghe An, the Agriculture Ministry said in a report on Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said another human case was confirmed in the northern Hai Phong province. The infected 15-year-old boy had recovered and been discharged from hospital, the WHO said in a statement from its headquarters in Geneva.

The H5N1 virus has killed 68 people in Asia, including 42 in Vietnam, since late 2003. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, triggering a global pandemic of killer flu.

The virus has this week also surfaced in the south where Ho Chi Minh City, a centre of 10 million people, is located.

"We will make sure that no birds are left in the city to minimize the risk of bird flu," Huynh Huu Loi, Director of Ho Chi Minh City's Animal Health Department, told Reuters.

Some international experts have said that pigeons appear to be resistant to the deadly H5N1 virus, but the city authorities are taking no chances.

Loi said beside the poisoning campaign, authorities would also move pet birds outside the city until Vietnam is free of bird flu.

The southern city, the country's largest, has banned poultry farming even though it has had no human cases since December 2004.

Most of the outbreaks in recent weeks have been in the cooler north. But the virus has spread to the south with the province of Long An reporting its first flu outbreak in poultry this week.
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