Vietnam Detects No New Bird Flu Strains: Heath Ministry

Vietnam has not uncovered any new bird flu strains or mutations that increase toxicity or are drug resistant, said the Preventative Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health. Strain A/H3 prevailed in the first two months of 2015 (77.8%), followed by A/H1N1 and type B (11.1% each). Meanwhile, the influenza virus type B was prevalent in 2014 with 59%, followed by A/H3 (28%) and A/H1N1 (13%), the department cited reports from the national flu checkpoint system as saying. Such shifts are common among seasonal flu strains, it noted. Vietnam recorded the first A/H5N1 cases in fowl and humans in December 2003. The virus has since spread and ignited a number of outbreaks causing severe health and economic damage. In February, A/H5N1 was found in a flock of poultry in Dai Hai commune in Ke Sach district in the southern province of Soc Trang, but no human A/H5N1 patients have been reported so far this year. The A/H5N1 virus claimed two lives in the southern provinces of Binh Phuoc and Dong Thap in 2014, bringing the number of A/H5N1 patients since 2003 to 127, including 64 deaths. (Nhan Dan – Peoples Mar 6)