September 22, 2004

New Cases Of Bird Flu In Cambodia
 

Cambodia has detected new cases of bird flu in chickens in a province near the capital, a senior agriculture ministry official reported on Wednesday. This is the first outbreak in the country since March this year.

"We have found a new outbreak of bird flu, the virus H5N1, at Kien Svay district in Kandal province," said the official, San Vanthy.

The official said 2,330 chickens had died or culled in the latest case of the lethal virus.

Agriculture minister Chan Sarun ordered a quarantine zone to be set up in a three-kilometre radius around the infected area for at least 30 days.

Officials could not confirm where the infected birds were being kept, nor plans for further culling.

The World Health Organisation fears that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a highly contagious form that triggers a global human flu pandemic.

Millions of birds have died, with six Asian countries reporting fresh outbreaks in poultry since July.

Cambodia reported 12 outbreaks of the lethal H5N1 during its first wave.

The UN food agency warned in July that the kingdom was at risk of fresh outbreaks due to its proximity to Thailand and Vietnam.

Experts feared at the height of the crisis that more cases had gone undetected because of limited resources for testing in the impoverished country, where farming is frequently communal.