LATEST NEWS THREAD: VIETNAM  ALL NEWS ON THIS THREAD PERTAINS SPECIFICALLY TO THE REGION OF VIETNAM   __________________________________________ Vietnam fights bird flu yet again

Disease/Infection News

Published: Monday, 28-Aug-2006

Animal health officials in Vietnam say they have detected the H5N1 bird flu virus on a small duck farm, this second case within a month, has sparked fears of a possible resurgence of the H5N1 virus in the country. This comes as a disappointment as Vietnam has been free of human bird flu cases so far this year and has had considerable success in the past in dealing and eradicating the deadly virus. The discovery was made in one duck in the southern Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, and follows recent reports of new outbreaks of the H5N1 virus in Vietnam's neighbours Laos, China and Thailand. The virus appeared among eight samples taken from a farm of 45 ducks in Thanh Phu town. According to Vietnamese authorities in the area all the ducks on the farm were immediately culled on Saturday and ducks in 14 nearby farms were also tested for the virus, but to date the results were all negative. The source of the virus is as yet unknown and no one in nearby villages has become sick from the infected birds. It seems the that the ducks were raised in an enclosed farm and had not been let out in the open for some time. The farm and surrounding areas have been disinfected. Another H5 subtype of the virus resurfaced in Vietnam in recent weeks, mainly in ducks and wild storks, but there have been no human infections of H5N1 since last December. The Vietnamese authorities are aware that although the virus remains essentially an animal disease, it can return at any time and any mutation could trigger a pandemic. Earlier this month Indonesia overtook Vietnam as the country with the most human deaths from avian flu; Indonesia has now suffered 46 reported deaths compared to Vietnam's 42 since the virus re-emerged in late 2003. The government had imposed a ban on hatching and raising water fowl, which can carry the virus without showing symptoms but the ban was said to be largely ignored by farmers. There are estimated to be as many as 50 million to 70 million water fowl in the country. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung put the nation on high alert after new outbreaks were reported in neighboring countries and urged local governments to tighten control along the land borders to prevent poultry from being smuggled into the country. The country had been commended for controlling the spread of the virus through strong political commitment and a mass vaccination campaign. According to the World Health Organisation, worldwide, 141 people have been killed, and millions of birds have either died from the virus or been culled because of it.

Ben Tre discovery sparks scare

15:05' 29/08/2006 (GMT+7)

The finding of the H5N1 virus in ducks in southern Ben Tre Province has promoted a call for agencies and municipalities to re-double their effort to contain bird flu. The Bird flu Control Committee was told at its weekly meeting in Hanoi yesterday that HCM City's Animal Health Centre had detected the virus in healthy, unvaccinated ducks last Friday. The entire flock was immediately destroyed. The committee warned that although the virus had not been detected in Vietnam's birds for eight months, it was prevalent in waterfowl, especially birds mat had not been vaccinated. Farmers had also bred new birds while outbreaks were reported from neighbouring countries. "The outbreaks mean the risk the return of bird flu is extremely high, especially in the provinces with a high waterfowl population," says the committee in a written report. The committee urged co-operation to stop the spread of bird flu. It recommended the appointment of ad-hoc teams to respond immediately to any epidemic. The committee says surveillance of household farms should be assigned to village elders and commune veterinarians. Each locality should provide a hot-line telephone number and the address of responsible officials to receive any information about suspected bird flu infections. The committee suggested that individuals and organisations that discover and declare outbreaks be rewarded. Southern An Giang Province reward of between VND200,000-300,000 for such reports was provided as an example. The committee says that municipal officials and ad-hoc teams must immediately slaughter any infected-birds and disinfect the surrounds when an outbreak is detected. "The first objective is to quarantine the affected zones and stop the sale of sick birds," it says. The committee asks farmers to monitor waterfowl; register to vaccinate their poultry and agree not to let allow them to range freely. Those who break the rule must slaughter their birds. The committee says commune officials must control the migration of ducks with those birds transported to other provinces without vaccination certificates or hatched after last Friday slaughtered. (Source: Viet Nam News)

HCMC airport told to set up bird flu quarantine Ho Chi Minh City airport officials have said there is no space to quarantine passengers suspected to have type A H5N1 bird flu but the city health agency has rejected the argument and insisted they set up one. Tan Son Nhat Airport managers said at a meeting with the HCMC Health Department on Wednesday that since the airport was too small they were unable to set up a quarantine but instead immediately sent suspected patients to hospital by ambulance.  Le Truong Giang, the department deputy director, insisted however that a separation area was imperative. He explained that since equipment available at the airport could not diagnose bird flu, people with other fevers were also rushed to hospital, an act that could panic other passengers as well as affect other airport activities. Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong – Translated by An Dien

Bird flu checks tightened

(01-09-2006)

HCM CITY — The examination of passengers at HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat international airport with suspected bird flu have been made tightened, reports Southern Aviation Authority Deputy General Director Vu Van Ngu.

The deputy general director announced the tighter assessment procedure at a meeting to establish a co-ordinated action plan to cope with any new outbreak on Wednesday.

The new procedure – part of the action plan – would help identify people suspected as having been infected and arrange for them to go to hospital as soon as possible.

The Health Department would also issue the aviation authority with daily bird flu reports from throughout the world so that any arrivals could be monitored.

Health officials, airport customs officers and police and representatives of the international health examination centre attended the meeting.

The plan is expected to have been approved by the end of next week with the Southern Aviation Authority responsible for its implementation among the 25 international airlines that fly in and out of HCM City.

The Customs Office in Dien Bien Province warns that examination of humans and goods for bird flu at border gates has not yet been properly implemented.

The office reports that work has been entrusted to the provinces customs and border guard teams. But the teams, confined to administrative procedures and tax and fees collections, needs help to do the job.

The province shares three border crossings with China and Laos.

A total of 11,782 people entered and exited with more than 200,000 tonnes of goods through the Tay Trang gate with Laos during the first eight months of this year.

A lax examination of humans and livestock, including birds, has been attributed to smugglers avoiding checks by using the numerous tracks between Viet Nam, Laos and China. — VNS

http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fvietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn%2Fshowarticle.php%3Fnum%3D01HEA010906

Inflation expected to rise 0.6% this month
Vietnam Economic Times, Vietnam - 2 hours ago
The country’s consumer price index (CPI) is expected to rise 0.6 per cent in September due to impacts of weather, and diseases such as bird flu and foot-and ...

Thanks once again to the data posters tracking many times with no comment the real events and the real danger.

 

VND1bil grant provided for H5N1 experiments on human

09:28' 08/09/2006 (GMT+7)

<> VietNamNet Bridge - Researching on the production of virus against the H5N1 strain of bird flu tested on humans following its successful trials on animals shows a positive result, said the director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Dr Nguyen Tran Hien Wednesday.   The quality of vaccine against H5N1 from monkey’s kidney made in the laboratory is stable. US$1 million grant provided by the US Health Ministry would go to the human trials.   The institute is now awaiting permission from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology for carrying out this national-level research.   On the same day, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development launched the action month for environmental hygiene and sterilization, focusing on live poultry markets, public places and slaughterhouses.     The government decided to spend VND1,000 billion on equipment, said Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan.   (Source: SGGP, TN, TT)

US  I SEARCH I HOME PAGE I ABOUT VIETNAM NEWS Monday, September 11, 2006

Preparing for return of bird flu (11-09-2006) The director of the HCM City Animal Health Department, Huynh Huu Loi, talks about plans to deal with any reoccurrence of bird flu with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. What is being done to ensure safe, clean poultry? HCM City is a huge market for poultry so the effort to ensure that bird flu does not reoccur is a major challenge. Tests of 455 birds arriving in the city showed only 30 per cent with disease-resisting antibodies. It’s a low percentage. Meanwhile, there has been the illegal transport and trading of poultry of unknown origin. More than 6,500 incidents have been detected since earlier this year. It means that strict measures are needed to prevent and, if necessary, control any outbreak and to ensure an abundance of safe, clean food. Do you think the proposal to have slaughter houses and egg vendors sign contracts with poultry farmers is feasible? The city wants to control poultry and eggs at every farm and retailer and I think contracts would benefit farmers, traders and slaughter houses. The city successfully played an intermediary between farmers and slaughter houses during previous outbreaks. Perhaps the proposal will not be realised this time but eventually my department will require each locality to register the number of households raising birds and the scale of their production. The municipal Animal Health Department will co-operate with neighbouring provinces to enforce measures to control pandemic as well as help farmers and slaughter houses to sell their produce to avoid dumping. How will the city prepare an abundance of safe food, if we have another outbreak of birdflu? The department has instructed the city’s slaughter houses to make proper preparations for any renewal of birdflu. The department is also writing a list of large-scale poultry farming households that will be helped with vaccination of their birds and pandemic control to ensure supply to the city’s slaughter houses. If the preparations are properly done, the supply of safe, clean poultry is assured. Where can the city’s consumers find safe poultry? Traders sell safe poultry produce under 46 commercial names. Consumers should buy poultry that carries a certificate of origin in supermarkets and the major produce markets. — VNS

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Vietnam set to use locally-made bird flu vaccines

Vietnam is expected to use locally-made bird flu vaccines that have been tested successfully on chickens and white-winged ducks for poultry starting early next year.

The Central Animal Health Institute was determining a suitable dosage and completing formalities for standard recognitions of safety and production processes, the institute's director Truong Van Dung said. Vietnam plans to build 64 cold store facilities in all cities and provinces for the vaccines. Tests of specimens taken randomly from poultry on September 5-11 had been negative for the H5 strain of bird flu virus, the Animal Health Department reported. Following the recent completion of the year's first batch of bird flu vaccination among fowls across the country, the government hopes to finish the second batch by late November. Testing specimens from vaccinated chickens and ducks in 19 cities and provinces indicated that 60 percent of the fowls in the northern region, 85 percent in the central region, and 75 percent in the southern region had developed resistance to the H5 strain, the department said. Bird flu has killed at least 141 people in 10 countries since December 2003. Vietnam has registered 42 fatalities, second only to Indonesia where 49 have been killed. No new human cases have been reported since mid-November 2005. Bird flu outbreaks have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls. Source: Lao Dong

H5N1 seems to be controllable in countries with a well functioning public health system and veterinary system.  That has been true in every country.  Vietnam has done a fairly good job considering their poverty and lack of medical technology.  Since it is endemic in some birds (lies dormant), when you knock it down once with bird culls and vaccines, you might have to start over again the next year, esp. in countries with a lot of poultry smuggling.  That would be less of a problem in the US.  The big danger is only if it goes through significant new mutations that make it a very different H5N1.

ASEAN shares experience in avian influenza combat (15-09-2006) HA NOI — ASEAN Regional Forum members shared their experience in mobilising military forces and civil institutions to combat infectious diseases like SARS and avian influenza. Officials from 26 countries of the forum discussed regional, and then worldwide, bird flu issues at the two-day seminar titled The Role of Military and Civil Co-operation in Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Such as SARS and Avian Influenza, which began yesterday. The participants –mostly military, foreign affairs and health care officials and scientists — also learned about varying prevention mechanisms and training activities to help stifle the epidemic. They also shared rapid response models and warning systems in case of outbreaks. Viet Nam is presenting its experience in co-ordination, planning and training military forces and civil organisations to counteract widespread infection. The country successfully extinguished several previous outbreaks including the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2003 and bird flu in 2004 and 2005. The ultimate goal of the seminar, chaired by assistant foreign minister Nguyen Trung Thanh and Commander Robyn Walker of the Australian Defense Force, is enhancing co-operation between ARF members to combat non-traditional security challenges. The seminar was approved by ARF’s foreign ministers in July. ARF is a forum comprising 10 ASEAN members and 16 other countries in the region including Australia. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA150906

Oisanatta wrote: Vietnam finally comes out of the closet.

I would say so. You might reasonably extrapolate here:

1) There are far more cases than are being reported.
2) The situation is worse than  has been stated.
3) Any time Vietnam declares itself "Bird Flu Free" within a very short period
of time there is an outbreak.

I would buckle up for another serious ride. Remember, these are the areas that seem to develop the worst strains, have documented cases of human transmission (CDC) - restated like in a rule out  Myocardial Infarction, "there is a definite possibility of human transmission and all precautions should be taken."

Vietnam has been fighting this avian battle for a long time now.  It is easy to sit here and at first glance criticize their seemingly futile efforts.  Their stakes are exactly the same as they are here and it would be unfair to assume otherwise.  We may have more highways and skyscrapers here but I do not have the confidence in our system here to fare any better.  This is an unrelenting unpredictable virus that apparently does not give up easily.  This is why we need to prep and keep our eye on the ball.

Precautions discussed at bird-flu meeting

14:40' 28/09/2006 (GMT+7)

<> VietNamNet Bridge - A meeting on urgent measures against the spread of avian-flu was held by the National Steering Board for Bird Flu Control (NSBBFC) in Hanoi yesterday.   The NSBBFC asked municipal authorities to stop poultry slaughtering at markets and populous areas immediately while strictly controlling the trade and transportation of poultry across the border.   The NSBBFC also asked relevant agencies to quickly implement the second phase of bird flu poultry vaccination plan, scheduled for completion in October.   Thirty-four provinces and cities nationwide have already completed their required 54.4 million poultry vaccinations this year.   In another defensive move, Minister Cao Duc Phat instructed the veterinary department to re-inspect batches of imported vaccines in response to  the Ministry of Public Security’s warnings of their poor quality.   The current cold weather could pave the way for the wide spread of the avian virus, said Mr. Cao Duc Phat, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and head of the NSBBFC.   Bird flu has been recently detected in nearby nations and the number of human transmissions of the disease is increasing gradually.   Avian outbreaks are cyclical, usually detected in October every year.   No bird flu outbreak has been found in the past nine months.   (Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2006/09/616730

This will leave its effects for many months to come .  

Vice Director Le Xuan Canh said the institute was testing some 400 people for rhinitis and sore throat daily.Most people contracted the two diseases because of the onset of autumn which was causing chilly weather in the mornings and evenings, and the change in humidity levels.Environmental pollution caused by vehicle exhaust and industrial effluents too contributed to the respiratory illness.

Patients with rhinitis and sinusitis had nasal congestion, facial pain, headache, fever, thick green or yellow discharge, facial 'fullness' which worsened when bending over, tooth ache, and others.Over 85 percent of chronic patients could be treated with drugs while the rest needed surgery.During the last week, NENTI had performed operations on 10-15 chronic cases each day.But post-operative patients needed to be careful since the surgery did not provide immunity against the diseases, Canh said.In August a report on pollution in HCMC made by the city’s Natural Resources and Environment Department warned that increasing environment pollution put more and more children at risk of contracting sore throat, rhinitis, bronchitis, sinusitis, bronchial asthma, pneumonia, inflammation of the middle ear, and other illnesses.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre – Compiled by Luu Thi Honghttp://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=20721

Viet Nam tightens bird flu controls for rest of 2006 (13-10-2006) Breeders at a chicken farm in Dong Anh district, Ha Noi, use an anti-bird flu chemical. — VNA/VNS Photo Bui Tuong HA NOI — Viet Nam has been bird flu free over the first nine months of the year. But the country’s future successful control of the pandemic will depend largely on the country’s efforts over the remaining three months, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong. Members of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Control have again urged caution as winter looms. Research has shown that cool air is a major contributor to the virus spreading quickly through poultry and water bird flocks. Nguyen Dang Vang, director of the Animal Breeding Department, said that breeding was again on the increase as farmers try to match demand brought on by the upcoming wedding season and the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. The increased demand for poultry coupled with the recent foot and mouth outbreaks in cattle have driven the price for chicken products upward. Vang said the price of one kilogram of processed chicken was between VND60,000-VND70,000 in Ha Noi. This is great news for poultry breeders but a challenge for those charged with epidemic control. In Ha Tay Province, where the country’s leading poultry industry is located, animal health workers still maintain a 24 hour vigil at 322 communes out of the 14 towns and districts where poultry are raised. The provincial authorities have been aggressive in their efforts to control the disease, having recently spent VND1 billion for developing quarantine systems. The province has also budgeted for another VND1 billion to be spent this year. The Animal Health Department has also continued it’s efforts by organising training courses on biological safety for poultry breeders and launching campaigns to vaccinate poultry and clear environment. Nguyen Thi Lien, a breeder in Chuong My District, said her family members were very worried when a bird suddenly died at her farm. "We invited an animal health worker to our house to guide us on the best approach to deal with the virus. When we discover unusual symptoms in our herd, we have the training and knowledge to solve the problem," said Lien. — VNS As the robot in lost in space would say warning warning master will , warning ...........

Little Ngoan was buried behind her parents' hut three weeks ago. Her grave, a bulky concrete tomb like others dotting the Vietnamese countryside, rests on high ground between a fishpond and yellow-green rice fields. At one end her family laid out her cherished possessions: a doll's chair, a collection of shells, plastic sandals. They painted her tomb powder blue.
 
While Ngoan's parents are off helping with the rice harvest, other relatives share their memories. "She was so small, just ten years old," says her grandmother, sitting on a hammock. "She was very gentle and a good student. If you look at her older sister"—the 17-year-old hangs back shyly—"you can imagine what she was like." Ngoan's grandfather, silent with grief, lights a stick of incense at her grave.
 
The loss of a beloved child has hit this family hard. But ordinarily, the wider world would pay little attention to a child's death from infectious disease in this remote corner of Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Old scourges like dengue fever and typhoid still take a toll here, and HIV/AIDS is on the rise.
 
Yet Ngoan's death and more than 50 others in Southeast Asia over the past two years have raised alarms worldwide. Affected countries are struggling to take action; other nations are sending aid and advisers while stockpiling drugs and developing vaccines at home. And scientists have stepped up their research into the fateful traffic of disease between animals and people.
 
Why? Because Ngoan died of the flu. for more on Asia ................

 http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0510/feature1/index.html

This just came thru ..........  

SPECIAL REPORT
When avian flu control meets cultural resistance

Maryn McKenna  Contributing Writer

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part special report on bird flu in Vietnam. Part one, "Vietnam's success against avian flu may offer blueprint for others," appeared Oct 25.

Oct 26, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – HANOI, Vietnam – Nguyen Van Tich's farm lies at the end of a narrow dirt road that runs under the tall edges of rice paddies and snakes between old bomb craters turned into fish ponds.

The tucked-away property, one of the largest in this 10,000-person district 20 miles from Hanoi, is new-looking and prosperous. In the 7 years they have owned it, 44-year-old Tich and his wife have stocked their 1.75 acres with citrus trees, coconut palms, pig pens, a duck pond, and a long brick coop filled with fuzzy chicks that skitter away from a stranger's shadow.

The couple went into debt to build the farm, and their care for their investment shows in the wire mesh that swathes the chicks' shelter and the vaccinations recently administered to their 1,000 ducks and hens—measures prescribed by Vietnam's central government to contain the threat of H5N1 avian influenza.

"I am a professional; [this farm] is my life," Tich said through an interpreter. "If I lose it, I lose everything."

The willingness of Tich, pictured at right,* and thousands of small farmers like him to follow the government's orders does much to explain Vietnam's dramatic change of fortune on avian flu, from one of the countries hardest hit by the virus to one of the most successful in controlling it (see part one of this series).

The Vietnamese government is openly proud of those results, and international animal and human health experts have applauded its apparent success. Yet some of those experts caution, and interviews with farmers and consumers confirm, that Vietnam's continued success is not guaranteed—because it may depend on new and stricter government prescriptions that the populace may find hard to accept.

"What is being talked about is trying to change really basic behavior that people have been engaged in all their lives," said Dr. Richard Brown, a World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist based in Hanoi. "It is going to be a slow process."

As the H5N1 outbreak expands, planners worldwide are acknowledging that scientific and political efforts to control the virus will fail unless they are accompanied by willing cultural change. Vietnam's attempts to create that change are being closely watched.

A model for success
Vietnam's success against avian flu has made the country an island of viral suppression in a sea of transmission—this year, according to reports from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), H5N1 has recurred in neighboring Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.

And Vietnam's successful measures are stringent and strictly maintained.

In Ho Chi Minh City, for instance, raising chickens in the city has been banned, and chickens raised in the countryside are inspected twice before they cross the city limits—once by rural authorities and a second time at one of four municipal checkpoints. More than 2,000 trucks pass through the checkpoints each day; if the birds' paperwork is in order, the truck carrying them is allowed to proceed along limited designated routes to one of three new slaughterhouses.

If the birds do not pass inspection, they are confiscated on the spot. "We take them to the incinerator," Dr. Truong Thi Kim Chau, vice-director of the city's sub-department of animal health, said through an interpreter.

The country's health authorities do not take success for granted.

"The risk of bird flu still exists in Vietnam," said Dr. Bui Quang Anh, the Hanoi-based director general of the department of animal health in the agriculture ministry, pointing to the likelihood that the virus still circulates in ducks, geese, and quail within Vietnam, and the possibility of its being carried over the Chinese border in smuggled live chickens.

Strict additional measures
To counter that perceived threat, the ministry proposes strict additional prevention measures in its Integrated National Operational Program for Avian and Human Influenza, known because of its binding as the "Green Book."

The measures vary. One proposal is to permanently ban the raising of ducks, an integral component of the rice-growing economy because they are herded into harvested paddies to clean and fertilize them. Another is to take poultry raising out of the hands of the backyard growers, who make up 70% of producers, and concentrate the industry in large, biosecure farms.

Most controversially, for many Vietnamese, the government proposes to alter the way that chicken, a major food, changes hands. It is phasing out the markets where consumers choose live birds and have them slaughtered, and substituting birds killed in a modern slaughterhouse and sold shrink-wrapped and chilled in supermarkets.

The change—already instituted in Ho Chi Minh City and under way in the north—would alter much more than basic commerce. It challenges deep-rooted food preferences, because already-dead chickens are considered less tasty and nutritious. It could affect social patterns, because markets are where neighbors meet each morning. It touches even religious practice: Slaughtering and cooking chicken on behalf of family ancestors is a crucial observance during Lunar New Year.

"This is the big challenge in Vietnam," said Dr. Le Truong Giang, vice-director of Ho Chi Minh City's health department. "Not all the population agree, but more and more people agree with us."

But in Hanoi, Tran Thi Tuyet—a university graduate working in a silk shop to perfect her English—vigorously disagreed.

"We know bird flu is very dangerous," she said. "But Vietnamese people, we like to go to the market, we want to see the birds. Where I live, outside the city, there are many markets selling chickens still."

Meeting cultural resistance
In Vietnam's health agencies, and in the cities and villages, there are scattered signs that acceptance of anti-bird flu measures may not be complete.

The two-shot poultry vaccination campaign mandated last year by the agriculture ministry inoculated approximately 160 million birds—80% of the country's total—in late 2005, Dr. Anh said. But a repeat this year, meant to catch a new crop of birds, vaccinated 140 million, about 65%. And a campaign to halve the country's duck population, which stood at 60 million in 2003, has stalled at 40 million birds.

"We are thinking of how to change the jobs of the duck farmers in the countryside," Dr. Anh said. "The farmers are very poor. We should have something else for them to do."

On a mid-September morning in Viet Doan commune—where 1,500 ducks were culled in 2005—400 local farmers followed along eagerly as a team from CARE International staged games and contests with an anti-flu theme. The gathering was part of a program that the humanitarian agency has been testing in Vietnam since 2004 that coaches rural residents to evaluate their own understanding of avian flu and teaches them preventive measures, from handwashing to keeping poultry away from other animals.

"Some food shops in the commune have stopped selling poultry meat or duck's blood," said Dr. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, a trainer on the program's staff. "Some farmers keep their poultry behind a fence. But it is difficult to change behavior; it requires a long time."

Tich, the farmer, did not attend the gathering. At his farm down the road, there was a modest fence, two strands of barbed wire slung loosely between low posts. A chicken flapped over it, landing clumsily in a mob of month-old ducklings (see left*)—ducklings that, under a strict interpretation of government guidelines, should not exist.

Asked about the ducks, Tich looked nonplussed. News of the ban, he said, had reached him only 10 days ago; he had bought the ducks 3 weeks before.

"What I heard is, the local authority just encouraged not to raise new ducks." he said through the interpreter. "It is not a policy."

Tich had complied with most of the policies in the government campaign against avian flu. In addition to vaccinating his adult birds and confining his chicks until they are a month old, he scours his chicken coops with disinfectant every time a crop is sold, wears gloves and a mask when he kills a bird for his own use, and buries dead chickens in a hole with lime instead of eating them or feeding them to fish.

But he seemed skeptical of the effort and expense in some of the further measures yet to come.

"Avian influenza is a very big concern for our family, because we have invested quite a lot of capital in our poultry," he said. "But if the government banned duck-raising, I might switch to raising other animals. I might not grow poultry anymore."

*Photos ©2006 Maryn McKenna. Used with permission.

Reporting for this story was supported by the East-West Center, Honolulu (www.eastwestcenter.org).