September 19, 2008

Cases of high-pathogenic bird flu outbreaks in Laos

Authorities in Laos have notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about two new outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu in their country.

The first outbreak was an infected group of ducklings in Luangprabang whose samples were confirmed to be positive for HPAI H5N1. A total of 197 birds died and the remaining 5,422 birds was culled within 1 KM around the control zone. The culling was started from September 5 and was completed on September 12.

The other outbreak was when a disease investigation was carried out and very low daily mortality of 2 percent was reported. The outbreak registered a total of 23 deaths from a flock of 1170.

Both outbreaks have been confirmed as being caused by the H5N1 strain of HPAI virus.

There had been no reported outbreaks of HPAI in Laos since February 2008.