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)
