A Cambodian health worker collects dead ducks for testing at Korng Pisey district in Kampong Speu province, 45 Km west of Phnom Penh. Three more people have been hospitalised in Cambodia with suspected bird flu, five days after the country reported its first death from the virus in a year.(AFP/Khem Sovannara)Sat Mar 25, 2006
AFP
Three more people have been hospitalised in Cambodia with suspected bird flu, five days after the country reported its first death from the virus in a year.
The three -- one adult and two children -- are being treated for fever and respiratory problems at a hospital in the capital Phnom Penh, said Ly Sovann, head of the health ministry's department of infectious diseases.
The suspected cases come from a village neighbouring that of a three-year-old girl who died Tuesday after falling ill with the H5N1 strain of the virus.
Five other people who had contact with the suspected cases are also being tested, Ly Sovann said.
It is unknown how the three might have become infected with the deadly virus, Ly Sovann said.
Seven Cambodians thought to have caught bird flu after the girl died tested negative for the virus, Ly Sovann said earlier.
"All the seven suspected patients are negative ... all of them are better," he said.
The seven, all from the girl's village, fell ill with fevers around the same time that the girl died.
Officials with the health ministry and World Health Organisation think the toddler became infected after playing with sick chickens in Phum Prich village in Kompong Speu province, 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh.
Another 42 people from Phum Prich who came into contact with the dead girl or the suspected cases have also tested negative for H5N1, which has killed five people in Cambodia since 2003, Ly Sovann said.
Health officials are investigating the deaths of chickens and ducks in Phum Prich, but an agriculture ministry official said Saturday there was no evidence yet the poultry died of H5N1.
Cambodia's last outbreak of bird flu in humans occurred in early 2005, while the virus has been found in ducks in eastern Kompong Cham province twice since February, triggering the slaughter of hundreds of birds.
Thousands of birds smuggled in from neighbouring Vietnam, where 42 people have died from bird flu since December 2004, have also been destroyed in recent months.
Most poultry in Cambodia is raised on small farms or in backyards, making it difficult to prevent the spread of the virus.
World Health Organisation figures show that bird flu has killed more than 100 people worldwide since 2003, mostly in Asia.
The three -- one adult and two children -- are being treated for fever and respiratory problems at a hospital in the capital Phnom Penh, said Ly Sovann, head of the health ministry's department of infectious diseases.
The suspected cases come from a village neighbouring that of a three-year-old girl who died Tuesday after falling ill with the H5N1 strain of the virus.
Five other people who had contact with the suspected cases are also being tested, Ly Sovann said.
It is unknown how the three might have become infected with the deadly virus, Ly Sovann said.
Seven Cambodians thought to have caught bird flu after the girl died tested negative for the virus, Ly Sovann said earlier.
"All the seven suspected patients are negative ... all of them are better," he said.
The seven, all from the girl's village, fell ill with fevers around the same time that the girl died.
Officials with the health ministry and World Health Organisation think the toddler became infected after playing with sick chickens in Phum Prich village in Kompong Speu province, 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh.
Another 42 people from Phum Prich who came into contact with the dead girl or the suspected cases have also tested negative for H5N1, which has killed five people in Cambodia since 2003, Ly Sovann said.
Health officials are investigating the deaths of chickens and ducks in Phum Prich, but an agriculture ministry official said Saturday there was no evidence yet the poultry died of H5N1.
Cambodia's last outbreak of bird flu in humans occurred in early 2005, while the virus has been found in ducks in eastern Kompong Cham province twice since February, triggering the slaughter of hundreds of birds.
Thousands of birds smuggled in from neighbouring Vietnam, where 42 people have died from bird flu since December 2004, have also been destroyed in recent months.
Most poultry in Cambodia is raised on small farms or in backyards, making it difficult to prevent the spread of the virus.
World Health Organisation figures show that bird flu has killed more than 100 people worldwide since 2003, mostly in Asia.
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