Bird flu outbreak in Vietnam likely to end soon
A World Health Organisation (WHO) official said he believed that the current outbreak of avian influenza in Vietnam is likely to end soon as the outbreak pattern has been very similar to last year.
"It certainly is still too early to predict, but so far the outbreak pattern has been very similar to last year," said Dr Hans Troedson, resident representative of the WHO office in Vietnam.
"There hasn't been any new cases for three weeks until these recent ones in Thai Binh province; and these might just be a few sporadic cases at the end of this current outbreak if the pattern continues to be similar to the situation one year ago when we saw the outbreak ending in March," he commented.
"It is expected that more cases of H5N1 will be diagnosed, since it is likely a reflection of the continued presence of the virus in animals as well as of the sensitivity of the country's surveillance system which was been enhanced following identification of the first human cases of infection in early 2004," he said, regarding a foreign source that quoted him as saying “New H5N1-contracted cases in the country are not signs of a worsening situation in Vietnam.”
"WHO's concern about the potential for the type-A virus to become a pandemic, however, remains high," he said, stressing "We continue to work closely with the government in Vietnam to provide technical and financial assistance to control and contain the spread of the virus."
In an interview on March 3, Peter Horby, resident epidemiologist for the WHO office in Vietnam further confirmed that WHO has worked with donor organisations to mobilise funds to support the Vietnamese government’s fight against avian influenza.
In the last 12 months, the WHO in Vietnam has managed funds donated for avian influenza control by the European Commission, Italian Government, Luxembourg Government, Netherlands Government, AusAID and others, he said.
Besides, WHO provides technical support through staff members in the offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and also through international consultants, he said, adding that international consultants have provided technical advice on laboratory diagnosis, hospital infection control and vaccine development.
According to him, four international experts visited Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology of Vietnam to provide technical advice on further development of a safe and effective vaccine against avian influenza for use in humans.
Aside from technical advice, WHO can provide prototype vaccine strains the materials needed to standardise vaccine formulations, he added.
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