January 28, 2004

Two Human Bird Flu Cases In Cambodia

Cambodia is testing two sick people for bird flu infection following the outbreak of avian flu in the country.

The two - an adult and child - have respiratory illnesses and were from a chicken farm northwest of the capital, said Dr. Hong Rath Mony, of the Health Ministry's communicable disease control.

"We've had no test results back," said Sean Tobin, a medical epidemiologist with the World Health Organization in the Cambodian capital. But he said the two weren't yet considered "suspected" cases.

A father, mother and child, also from the Phnom Penh area but from a different farm than the two now under investigation, tested negative for bird flu, Hong Rath Mony said.

Reports of possible bird flu in Cambodia emerged last week after thousands of sick chickens died in several parts of the country. Officials said last Friday that samples of dead chickens from a farm near the capital tested positive for the avian disease.

At least 3,500 birds have died or been culled from two farms near Phnom Penh, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Cambodia is one of 10 Asian countries that have confirmed cases in poultry of bird flu, which has killed eight people on the continent so far. China has banned all birds imported "directly and indirectly" from Cambodia, and Japan has suspended chicken meat imports.

The ban wasn't likely to have an economic impact since Cambodia doesn't export chicken, said San Vanty, deputy director general of the Agricultural Ministry.