VietNamNet Bridge - Director of the Animal Health Agency of Region VI -- Nguyen Xuan Binh -- has proposed to kill the whole flock of salanganes of Thanh Binh salangane house in Phan Rang city of Ninh Thuan Province in central Vietnam, after samples of dead birds tested positive for the type A H5N1 influenza virus.

Salaganes infected with A/H5N1, hundreds of families worry 

 

 

Thanh Binh salangane house in Phan Rang City, where 5,000 birds died.

In the meeting with officials of Ninh Thuan province on April 16, Mr. Binh estimated that 5,000 birds of Thanh Binh house died in over the past two weeks. This flock of birds has around 100,000 birds.

From April 9 to 15, the Animal Health Agency of Region VI tested 13 samples of dead birds, 35 samples of living birds, 24 samples of bird’s nests and 105 samples of bird droppings. The results showed that 13 samples of dead birds are were positive with H5N1 virus. The remaining samples are entirely negative.

The Animal Health Agency of Region VI still maintained its opinion of making public the H5N1 bird flu epidemic on Ninh Thuan’s salanganes and cull all birds of Thanh Binh farm.

Mr. Tran Xuan Hoa, Deputy Chairman of Ninh Thuan province, has agreed with the above proposal but the time for implementation has not been determined.

"This is the first time in the world that domestic salanganes have A/H5N1 bird flu, so we have to consult with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention on whether we should kill the birds or not," said Hoa.

Ninh Thuan provincial authorities also asked competent agencies to take the optimal solutions for handling more than 100,000 birds at Thanh Binh far before the bird flu epidemic is announced.

Under the recent regulations on bird flu prevention, which do not mention salanganes, Thanh Binh will not receive compensation for the destruction of their birds.

Yen Viet company – the owner of Thanh Binh – has announced to suspend collection of bird’s nests from this farm and stop purchasing bird’s nests from other provinces.

According to the company, all of its products that are available on the market are processed from the bird’s nests collected before their birds died by H5N1 influenza virus infection. The last batch was produced in late 2012 and all products were tested strictly.

Le Ha