Bird flu dampens Tet festivities in Vietnam

By Ben Stocking
Knight Ridder Newspapers

	PAULA BRONSTEIN / GETTY IMAGES A Vietnamese woman carries chickens for sale at the Ben Xe Long Bien market in Hanoi, Vietnam. With a deadly bird flu sweeping Vietnam and other parts of Asia, many people are afraid to eat chicken.
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But with a deadly bird flu sweeping across Vietnam and other parts of Asia, few people are buying chicken at her stall in the bustling 1912 Market, one of the busiest in the capital.

"Business is very bad," said Thu, sitting in front of three metal trays covered with freshly cut chicken parts. "People are scared to eat chicken. If this lasts much longer, I'm going to have to find a new line of work."

In the days before today's arrival of Tet, as the new year's holiday is known in Vietnam, anxiety is creeping across the country and other parts of Asia, which only recently shook off the gloom generated by last year's SARS outbreak.

Millions of chickens in Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have been infected with the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza, although only Vietnam has confirmed cases in people.

World and U.S. health officials are watching nervously for any signs that the flu has mutated into a human form, which could trigger a widespread epidemic.

The World Health Organization said five people have died because of the bird flu.

Vietnamese authorities have ordered all chickens slaughtered in the 15 provinces and cities where the flu has spread. The disease, which has appeared in northern and southern provinces, is proving nearly 100 percent fatal in chickens, according to the WHO. So far, more than 2 million birds have either died from the flu or have been slaughtered in an effort to halt its spread.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Vietnam admitted that nearly 900,000 chickens possibly exposed to the deadly virus had been sold to the public.

WHO officials also said a growing number of respiratory illnesses are being seen at two of Hanoi's biggest hospitals, but they stressed that it was too early to say whether they were the result of the bird flu — or an outbreak of human-flu-inspired fear.

Officials believe all the victims caught the disease from contact with sick chickens or their droppings. They still have not seen any evidence of person-to-person infections.

If someone gets sick with both human and bird flu, the super-adaptable influenza viruses could merge and become contagious person to person. The disease could spread worldwide at epidemic proportions in less than three months, said Dr. W. Paul Glezen, the head of the Influenza Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Flare-ups of bird flu in Hong Kong in 1997, 1999 and 2003 and in the Netherlands in April were effectively contained by quickly killing chickens. Each episode killed at least one person.

The current outbreaks are unusual for their scale and because they have erupted in several places at once. The more widespread the outbreak, the greater the chances for humans becoming infected — and the greater the chances for human and bird flu strains to mix.

The timing couldn't be worse for Vietnam.

Thousands of overseas Vietnamese have returned for Tet. All across the country, people are busy preparing for the multiday celebration that began last night, which is like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day rolled into one holiday. They've bought Tet trees and gifts for friends and family and have stocked up on holiday food.

But they aren't buying chicken, a traditional holiday favorite.

"My business is down at least 50 percent," said Thu, whose chickens had been inspected and approved by Hanoi agriculture officials.

Health officials say it is safe to eat thoroughly cooked chicken and eggs.

Nevertheless, customers also have been avoiding restaurants that serve pho ga, a chicken noodle soup that is a Hanoi specialty. At the ordinarily crowded No. 2 Nguyen Du restaurant there was only one customer Friday.

Although people are anxious about the bird flu, it has yet to unleash the panic caused by last year's SARS crisis, which prompted people to avoid public places, wear masks and shun anyone with a cough.

Just as they did when SARS erupted, the WHO is establishing a team of experts to work with Vietnamese officials as they attempt to halt the spread of the disease. Some of the experts are from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, as well as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — where the bird flu also has appeared — are better equipped than Vietnam to battle the outbreak, said Anton Rychener, the U.N. agriculture representative in Vietnam.

The U.N. group and the WHO are planning to distribute 50,000 protective suits to the people who will be slaughtering Vietnam's infected chickens. They also are creating a way to compensate farmers who must kill their birds.

Seth Borenstein of the Knight Ridder Washington bureau contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company