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Vietnam asks for international help to tackle bird flu
HANOI : Vietnam said Thursday it is seeking international help to battle a worsening bird flu epidemic and to prepare a long-term plan to tackle the killer disease. Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat sent a letter late Wednesday to the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation asking for the assistance. The avian influenza was "spreading very quickly in the country", the minister said in the letter obtained by AFP. The government requested the "WHO and FAO's kind assistance in sending the qualified experts to Vietnam to collaborate with local (authorities) to study the outbreak and set up" a plan for its control. The virus has claimed 13 lives in Vietnam since December 30 and 33 since the end of 2003. Twelve people have also died in Thailand from bird flu, which has swept parts of Asia since December 2003. Bird flu has now spread to 33 of Vietnam's 64 cities and provinces, including northern Ha Giang province bordering China. Experts have long warned further outbreaks of the disease were inevitable in the country as long as humans live cheek by jowl with I lived through SARS and there seems to be more to this than the numbers indicate. Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-03 |
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