19.10.2012

According to the Vietnamese Department of Animal Health, avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks have been detected in the northern and central provinces of Ha Tinh, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, Bac Kan, Quang Ngai, Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang, where more than 180,000 chickens and ducks have been culled so far.
The strain belongs to a subclade of the 2.3.2.1 clade that infected poultry in Vietnam in 2011.
The new strain appeared in July and took just one month to spread from north to central Vietnam.
Two of the four people within Vietnam to become infected this year have died. The most recent fatality was a man from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in March – several months before the new strain was identified.