August 14, 2006

 

Cambodia announces new bird flu outbreak

 

 

Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry has announced that a new outbreak of bird flu in poultry has been found in the country's south-east, state television station TVK reported Saturday (Aug 12).

 

It was not immediately clear from the announcement whether the detected virus was the virulent H5N1 type.

 

The ministry said the disease had been detected Friday in Prey Veng province, which borders Vietnam.

 

The announcement came after the government ordered health officials to be on alert for suspected human cases of bird flu following recent outbreaks of the virus in two neighbouring countries.

 

Outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus among poultry in both Laos and Thailand, and two recent human deaths from the disease in Thailand, prompted the alert, said a weekly bird flu bulletin compiled by United Nations agencies received Saturday.

 

It said the Cambodian Ministry of Health has "called all provincial rapid response teams to put them on alert and ask them to follow up with hospitals and health centres in their provinces" on suspected human cases of bird flu.

 

On Friday, another neighbour, Vietnam, reported its first cases of bird flu in poultry since December, sparking fears of a resurgence in the country that had been hailed for controlling the spread.

 

The UN bulletin said that since early this month, Cambodia's bird flu telephone "hot line" has received more than 150 calls from people in the countryside informing officials about dead poultry or asking for information about signs and symptoms of the disease in birds and humans.

 

It also said a daily one-hour radio call-in programme was launched early this month on a local station to handle inquiries from the Cambodian public about bird flu.

 

The bulletin is published jointly by three UN agencies: the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and UNICEF, the UN children's fund.

 

Kao Phal, director of the Agriculture Ministry's animal health department, said Wednesday that field officials were continuing routine bird flu surveillance activities across the country.

 

The government has also enlisted Buddhist monks to help spread information on combating the virus. Workshops will be held this month for monks and other citizens at 2,538 pagodas in 11 provinces, the UN said Wednesday.