[Arubi]

Saturday, December 04, 2004
Vietnamese farmer fined for selling chickens infected with bird flu

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Authorities have fined a farmer for selling chickens infected with a strain of bird flu that has killed 20 people in Vietnam this year, state-controlled media reported Saturday.

Tran Van Dung was fined 3 million dong (US$190; euro140) for selling the sick chickens at a market in Bac Lieu province, some 300 kilometers (190 miles) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said.

In June, local authorities discovered at a market 200 slaughtered chickens that tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the report said.

Suspecting the chickens came from Dung's farm, authorities raided his property and found chickens that had apparently died of the disease and a further 65 that had been slaughtered for sale, it said.

Avian flu ravaged Asia earlier this year, killing millions of birds.

The H5N1 strain also jumped to humans, killing 32 people in Vietnam and Thailand.

The World Health Organisation has repeatedly warned that if the current avian flu virus mutates it could easily lead to the next global flu pandemic. - AP


http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/12/4/latest/20001Vietnamese&sec=latest

[fuzzychick]

Big heads up.
The H5N1 strain also jumped to humans, killing 32 people in Vietnam and Thailand

[CanadaSue]

Because for every such farmer who gets caught, how many don't? How many 'inspecters' are on the take? IN in more rural, possibly less literate parts of the country, how many people are simply genuinely not aware of what they're dealing with.

Yup - one thing is clear. We are NOT going to change what goes on in Vietnam, Thailand & other countries where H5N1 is endemic. We're not going to change what happens in China where H5N1 happily coexists with other avian strains amidst a collectivity of poultry, swine, people...

The part of the H9N2 flu gene that mutateds , enabling it to infect 2 kids, (reference in the morning), ALSO EXISTS IN highly pathogenic H5N1. Wait, think I already referenced that - tired.

tight how we have to think through - what can we do here. No, wrong. What can I do? What can YOU do? Frget 'we'. The only 'we' are those in your home. Because if we end up with a 1018 style pandemic, we're ALL essentially on our own, stuck with what we have at the time. Trust me.