Press Release
October 22, 2009
United States Supports Influenza Surveillance for Factors Associated with Animal-to-Human Virus Transmission
HANOI, October 22, 2009 – Vietnamese physicians, veterinarians, and epidemiologists will begin a new collaborative project at the provincial to commune levels, to identify factors that may be associated with the transmission of influenza viruses from animals to humans. This project supported by the U.S. government through a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cooperative agreement supplement to the National Institute of Health and Epidemiology (NIHE), Ministry of Health. The pilot project will find people, pigs, and poultry living in close proximity, and ask how the influenza virus is transmitted from animals to humans, and vice versa. This zoonotic disease connection is called the animal-human interface.
Vietnam is one of the many countries affected by the 2009 Influenza A/H1N1 pandemic virus. As of October 19, Vietnam has reported over 10,000 human cases and 24 deaths. Although government leadership has been successful in controlling human illnesses, there is concern over increased illnesses and death, especially with the influenza season in the northern hemisphere to begin soon.
CDC Vietnam recently began the Animal-Human Interface initiative, part of a comprehensive Influenza Program, and which includes the in-country placement of a Veterinary Medical Epidemiologist who, along with a CDC Medical Epidemiologist, will work side-by-side with MOH and MARD professionals. This initial cooperative agreement supplement, estimated at USD 60,000, is the first of several planned efforts to prevent and control influenza infections in humans in Vietnam, while contributing to understanding around the world.
With technical support from CDC Influenza Program, from NIHE, and from the National Center for Veterinary Diagnosis (NCVD, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), human and animal health workers at the commune level will identify people confirmed to have the current 2009 H1N1/A strain of the pandemic influenza virus, and who live in close proximity to pigs and poultry. Samples will be collected for laboratory analysis, which will allow NIHE and NCVD scientists to determine human and animal populations potentially at risk. With this information, scientists will be able to follow exposed populations of animals and study which risk factors lead to dangerous genetic mutation of the influenza virus.