Bird flu has stricken Vietnam's central Quang Ngai province, raising the total number of affected localities in the country to three, Xinhua quoted a local veterinary agency as saying. Late last month, bird flu killed 70 ducks and sickened 150 others raised by a household in the province's Binh Son district, whose specimens have recently been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said, adding that the whole duck flock has been culled. Now, bird flu is hitting southern Dong Thap province, and Nghe An and Quang Ngai in the central region. Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.
