Vietnam warns border areas with Cambodia of avian influenza threat

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has warned eight provinces near the border with Cambodia of a threat coming from the avian influenza H5N1 that has killed four Cambodians this year, reported by Vietnam's state-run news agency on Tuesday. The warning was released after those deaths were confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Cambodia, saying four out of five Cambodian people contracted with bird flu had died since the beginning of this year, and that one of two areas hit by the disease is close to the Vietnam border. The ministry instructed related provinces to strictly tighten international medical quarantine procedures so as to keep the lethal H5N1 virus from spreading to Vietnam. Prevention and control measures must be implemented by the local authorities to strengthen supervision of both domestic and imported poultry. Last year, bird flu hit seven Vietnamese provinces and killed two people. Vietnam has reported 121 H5N1 cases since 2003, of which there were 61 deaths, said the report.