Bird flu and blue-ear diseases under control in Vietnam

Epidemics of blue-ear in pigs and bird flu are under control but foot-and-mouth disease was still a problem, an official from the agricultural ministry said yesterday.

Deputy Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan told the National Steering Committee on Livestock Disease Prevention that authorities of some provinces had not yet implemented strict measures to prevent foot-and mouth disease and even could not agree on what vaccine to use.

Inspections had revealed the northern Son La Province had not implemented strict controls on 50 per cent of its grazing cattle herd.

The steering committee said foot-and-mouth disease was occurring at two main regions of the northern mountainous provinces and Central Highland. Points of origin for the disease had been discovered in the two regions recently, which showed that the disease was still spreading.

The main reasons were disease-affected cattle was still being sold and the cold weather had reduced the cattle\'s resistance to the disease.

The steering committee asked affected provinces and neighbouring regions for stronger inspections of cattle farmers and slaughter-houses and detection of illegal cattle sales and smuggling in border areas.

The committee also asked the agricultural ministry\'s veterinary department to complete the draft of the 2011-15 national programme on foot-and-mouth disease prevention for the ministry\'s approval.

There are 14 provinces which still have foot-and-mouth disease, including Son La, Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Bac Kan, Cao Bang, Thanh Hoa, Dien Bien, Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang and Hoa Binh in the north, Quang Ngai, Nghe An, Phu Yen in the centre, and Kon Tum in the Central Highland.