# 2077
In June of 2007 Vietnam was in the middle of a major outbreak of bird flu among poultry, and as many as 18 provinces were affected.
There were fears, expressed by the Health and Agriculture Ministries earlier this year, that they might see a repeat performance this June.
That, thankfully, has not happened.
Two provinces are currently reporting outbreaks; Quang Ngai and southern Tra Vinh.
Interestingly, this article also mentions that scientists are studying up to 30 variants of the virus, taken from local poultry and wild birds.
Exactly what constitutes a `variant' isn't stated, so it is a bit difficult to ascertain how newsworthy that revelation really is.
Hopefully we can get some clarification of this statement soon.
Vietnam reports additional bird flu-hit province
www.chinaview.cn
2008-06-17 12:16:54
HANOI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's central Quang Ngai province has been stricken by bird flu, raising the number of affected localities to two, local newspapers reported Tuesday.
Bird flu has killed 690 chickens raised by a household in Son Tinh district since June 12, People newspaper said, noting that Quang Ngai and southern Tra Vinh province are being hit by the disease.
Bird flu outbreaks are cooling down in Vietnam, but still making complicated changes, Vietnam Economic Times newspaper quoted Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong as saying.
Vietnam should keep on carrying out anti-bird flu activities atboth central and local levels, and intensifying the disease-related research, he said.
Vietnam is probing into over 30 variants of bird flu virus H5N1taken from affected poultry and wild birds.
Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.
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