The Change Mariner

Vietnam's Bird Flu Battle

Asia Times:

Mere months after the successful containment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the last thing the Vietnamese government wanted was another dramatic public-health crisis. Unfortunately, as the world now knows, another crisis is exactly what it got.

Vietnam's struggle with H5N1 influenza, better known as bird flu, is now reaching its climax. It should become clear in the next few weeks whether H5N1 can be contained or will break out and become the next great flu pandemic, as many health authorities fear.

Of course, Vietnam is only one battlefront in the war against H5N1. But more patients have died in Vietnam so far than in any other affected country, and the difficulties faced by the Vietnamese government in containing the epidemic well illustrate the difficulties faced by other governments in the region.