Vietnam has not detected any new influenza strains or mutations thatincrease toxicity or are drug resistant, said the Ministry of Health’sPreventive Medicine Department (PMD) on March 5.
The department continued to say it has not uncovered any instances ofthe influenza type A strain H7N9 on poultry or humans after inspecting anumber of vulnerable provinces and fowl trading centres.
Reports from the national flu checkpoint system show that strain A/H3prevailed in the first two months of 2015 (77.8 percent), followed byA/H1N1 and type B (11.1 percent each). Meanwhile, the influenza virustype B was prevalent in 2014 with 59 percent, followed by A/H3 (28percent) and A/H1N1 (13 percent).
Such shifts are common among seasonal flu strains, the PMD noted.
Besides the launch of the national flu checkpoint system, the Ministryof Health recently established two national influenza centres at theNational Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi and the PasteurInstitute in Ho Chi Minh City.
It has alsoimplemented a 2015 disease prevention plan while asking its EmergencyOperations Centres to intensify supervision, closely monitor globaldisease development, and share related information with relevantinternational and domestic agencies in a timely fashion.
The moves were made in response to warnings from the World Health Organisation regarding dangerous changes in flu strains.
Vietnam recorded the first A/H5N1 cases in fowl and humans in December2003. The virus has since spread and ignited a number of outbreakscausing severe health and economic damage.
InFebruary 2015, A/H5N1 was found in a flock of poultry in Dai Hai communein Ke Sach district, southern Soc Trang province, but no human A/H5N1patients have been seen thus far this year.
TheA/H5N1 virus claimed two lives in southern Binh Phuoc and Dong Thapprovinces in 2014, bringing the number of A/H5N1 patients since 2003 to127, including 64 deaths.-VNA
The department continued to say it has not uncovered any instances ofthe influenza type A strain H7N9 on poultry or humans after inspecting anumber of vulnerable provinces and fowl trading centres.
Reports from the national flu checkpoint system show that strain A/H3prevailed in the first two months of 2015 (77.8 percent), followed byA/H1N1 and type B (11.1 percent each). Meanwhile, the influenza virustype B was prevalent in 2014 with 59 percent, followed by A/H3 (28percent) and A/H1N1 (13 percent).
Such shifts are common among seasonal flu strains, the PMD noted.
Besides the launch of the national flu checkpoint system, the Ministryof Health recently established two national influenza centres at theNational Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi and the PasteurInstitute in Ho Chi Minh City.
It has alsoimplemented a 2015 disease prevention plan while asking its EmergencyOperations Centres to intensify supervision, closely monitor globaldisease development, and share related information with relevantinternational and domestic agencies in a timely fashion.
The moves were made in response to warnings from the World Health Organisation regarding dangerous changes in flu strains.
Vietnam recorded the first A/H5N1 cases in fowl and humans in December2003. The virus has since spread and ignited a number of outbreakscausing severe health and economic damage.
InFebruary 2015, A/H5N1 was found in a flock of poultry in Dai Hai communein Ke Sach district, southern Soc Trang province, but no human A/H5N1patients have been seen thus far this year.
TheA/H5N1 virus claimed two lives in southern Binh Phuoc and Dong Thapprovinces in 2014, bringing the number of A/H5N1 patients since 2003 to127, including 64 deaths.-VNA
