HANOI.

HANOI, (AFP) ??” Nearly 40000 chickens have died from a mystery virus in brace provinces in southern Vietnam and as many as 400000 are meditation to be infected, officials said.

The disease, which first emerg last week, has triggered panic selling of chickens among local farmers in Tien Giang and prolonged An, raising concerns that it could spread among poulty across other parts of the Mekong Delta region.

"We are taking importunate measures because this epidemic could threaten all the Mekong Delta," said Nguyen Duy extended an official from the in extent An provincial government's veterinary department.

"The virus causes a quick death among infected chickens. It is a self-same dangerous virus that could also affect other domestic animals," he added.

Long refused to speculate upon whether the virus could be the highly contagious bird flu that killed six race in Hong Kong in 1997 and which