Vietnam declares bird flu over
越南宣布禽流感疫情结束

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Tuesday, March 30, 2004 Posted: 0905 GMT (1705 HKT)

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) -- Vietnam has declared it has stamped out the bird flu epidemic, which killed 16 people in the country and wiped out millions of poultry, following more than one month of no new outbreaks.
越南，河内----经过一个多月没有新发病例出现后，越南宣布已经成功扑灭禽流感。在这次流行中，共有16人病死，数百万只家禽被扑杀。

☆ stamp out 扑灭
    epidemic 流行病
    poultry 家禽

"As of today we are free of bird flu," Bui Quang Anh, director of the animal health department of the agriculture ministry, told Reuters on Tuesday.
农业部动物卫生处主任Bui Quang Anh,告诉路透社记者：“从现在起，我们终于摆脱了禽流感。”

☆ As of  到...时为止，从...时起
    be free of 摆脱

The announcement drew wary reactions from the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, particularly since a 12-year-old boy died just two weeks ago from the H5N1 virus in Vietnam.
界卫生组织和联合国粮农组织对此声明反应谨慎，尤其是两周前，刚有一名12岁的男孩在越南死于H5N1型流感病毒。

☆ wary 谨慎的
    World Health Organization 缩写为WHO，世界卫生组织

"A lot of caution is required. There's still a lot of potential for a new outbreak," said Peter Horby, epidemiologist at the United Nations' health agency.
“必需保持足够警惕，仍有极大可能出现新疫情。”联合国卫生机构传染病专家Peter Horby说。

☆ caution 谨慎, 警惕
     potential 潜在的, 可能的

The WHO has not received official confirmation from the Ministry of Health about the most recent fatality, Horby said.
Horby说，WHO没有接到越南卫生部最近死亡报告。

☆ fatality 致死率,致命率

FAO Vietnam representative Anton Rychener said his agency was not consulted on the bird flu-free declaration.
联合国粮农组织驻越南代表Anton Rychener说在宣布疫情结束之前，越南政府并未与他们进行蹉商。

☆ consult 商量，蹉商

"The international community does not have any evidence to say the contrary, but we nonetheless caution the government to not announce it prematurely," Rychener told Reuters.

While Vietnam has said it will require safety certification of poultry and eggs sold in markets, Rychener said the country lacked the capacity to properly police the products.

Thailand, where eight people have died from the virus, has not officially declared the epidemic over. But China said earlier this month it had stamped out the disease, which may have originated from migratory birds.

About 38 million poultry in Vietnam either died from the disease or were culled, representing about 15 percent of the country's fowl.

Earlier this month, the FAO urged affected nations not to restock poultry farms too quickly to prevent the disease from flaring up again.

The virulent H5N1 avian flu virus spread across much of Asia from late 2003, causing the death or culling of more than 100 million fowl.