HANOI, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam has recently detected some 6,000 sick and dead fowls in four southern provinces, part of whose samples are tested positive for bird flu virus strain H5.

    Between Oct. 4 and Oct. 16, the country discovered 2,000 sick poultry in Long An province, nearly 1,000 in Soc Trang province, 150 in Tien Giang province and a small number of fowls in Ben Tre province, local newspaper Youth on Monday quoted director of the Department of Animal Health Bui Quang Anh as saying.

    Of the flock in Soc Trang, 500 have already died, he said, noting that some samples taken from affected poultry have tested positive for the virus strain of H5. The National Anti-Bird Flu Steering Committee will hold a meeting and a press briefing on Monday to announce new measures to deal with bird flu outbreaks, he noted.

    The newspaper, in a separate story, said that the number of affected poultry in Tien Giang in the period rose to around 3,000,not 150 as stated by Anh. Chickens died en masse in two farms in the province´s My Tho city, resulting in the forced culling of some 3,000 fowls.

    On Oct. 10, chickens of a 2,000-head flock in a farm in the city´s rural area owned by Nguyen Thanh Hai started dying, and the same situation happened to a 1,000-head flock possessed by Pham Van Tam, said the story. Veterinary cadres are inspecting allflocks in the city to detect poultry deaths which may be covered by raisers.

    In a press briefing held last month, Anh said that after having reappeared in 11 southern provinces and city since June 2004, birdflu no longer activated there, and that the reappearance of bird flu had either killed or led to the forced culling of over 44,000 poultry, mainly chickens and quails.

    Vietnam, which is beefing up anti-bird flu measures such as disinfecting farms, monitoring the transport and import of fowls and their eggs, and raising public awareness of the disease, hopesto completely eradicate bird flu viruses, the H5N1 strain in particularly by the next five or six years.

    In late March 2004, the country declared an end to bird flu that had killed 17 percent of its poultry population, and claimed 16 human lives since its previous outbreak last December. A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing direct losses of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million US dollars) to the local poultry industry.