The H5N1 avian influenza virus, back for more than a year. Previously, South-East Asia has been one of the world most affected.
The number of reported reappearance of H5N1 in poultry and wild birds has decreased since mid-2011 and fell sharply during the second quarter of 2012, according to FAO. Six countries reported to the UN agency 98 cases of poultry affected by H5N1 and five cases of wild birds from April to June 2012, according to CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, University of Minnesota). Among the countries included Cambodia , the Indonesia and China.
During this period, the decline in the number of cases of bird flu was the most sensitive in Egypt and Indonesia.Countries are affected more sporadically - like Vietnam , Japan and South Korea - have reported no cases.H5N1 had declined from 2003 to 2008 before a new advance in mid-2008 to mid-2011.
FAO has called for caution, however: all H5N1 cases are not reported and "clinical signs [of illness] may be masked by the use of regular vaccination of poultry farms." In addition, the second quarter marks the end of the season of H5N1, said the FAO report (during the first quarter of 2012, 198 cases were reported in eleven countries).
Vietnam has had good report no cases during the second quarter, the virus may be endemic in the delta of the Mekong and the provinces surrounding Ho Chi Minh City . Nine cases of human transmission have been reported during the second quarter of 2012 in four countries, including Cambodia and Indonesia. In 2012, 30 people became ill, 19 died, the last in August in Indonesia (in 2011, 62 cases were reported, including 34 deaths). http://asie-info.fr/2012/11/23/asie-du-sud-est-la-grippe-aviaire-recule-513625.html