(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-17 13:51

HANOI -- Recent tests conducted in Vietnam and China indicate that Chinese bird flu vaccines used among poultry in Vietnam are still effective, local newspaper Labor reported Friday.

After testing samples taken in this year's bird flu outbreaks in the two northern provinces of Hai Duong and Ninh Binh and the two southern provinces of Bac Lieu and Hau Giang, Vietnamese experts found that Chinese H5N1 vaccines can protect 90-95 percent of vaccinated fowls from being attacked by the disease.

The experts at the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sent 15 samples taken in different Vietnamese localities hit by bird flu in late 2006 and early 2007 to China for testing. Analysis of Chinese experts shows that the protection rate among chickens reaches 100 percent.      

Vietnam has so far this year vaccinated over 161.5 million fowls, mainly chickens and ducks, against bird flu viruses. Now, three Vietnamese provinces, Dien Bien and Cao Bang in the North and Dong Thap in the South, are being hit by bird flu, according to the department.