Culling Continues After Bird Flu Death

Ducks poke their heads out of the side of a pickup truck in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: AP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 28 April 2010

“If someone living in a place where ducks or chickens are raised in farms is suspected of having the H5N1 virus, we can provide Tamilflu tablets,”

Prey Veng provincial authorities expect to cull more than 700 ducks and chickens suspected of carrying avian influenza, following the death of a 27-year-old man earlier this month.

Chea Ly died of bird flu on April 17 in the province’s Kampong Leav district, which borders Vietnam, officials said this week, bringing the death toll of the disease in Cambodia to eight since 2005. The disease has killed more than 290 people since 2003.

Health and veterinary officials traveled from house to house in the district this week, killing the birds, which are raised family by family, said Chhun Dy, head of the district’s animal health office. So far, officials have culled more than 1,500 birds.

“We will continue to kill a remaining 400 chickens and 300 ducks,” Chhun Dy said.

Tep Samoeun, head of the provincial hospital’s infectious disease department, said health officials were monitoring villagers fro signs of the disease, sometimes referred to as H5N1, for the virus that causes it.

“If someone living in a place where ducks or chickens are raised in farms is suspected of having the H5N1 virus, we can provide Tamilflu tablets,” he said.

Authorities in Takeo province killed more than 20,000 ducks in February, resulting in losses of thousands of dollars for dozens of families.

Officials Urge Proper Care in Bird Cooking

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 December 2008

Health officials on Thursday encouraged the proper preparation of duck and chicken on Thursday, in the face of the culling of hundreds of birds suspected of carrying the H5N1 virus in Kandal province.

“Villagers must be sure themselves whether the meat is well cooked,” said Ly Sovann, deputy director of the communicable diseases control department at the Ministry of Health. “They should wear a mask while they kill the poultry and must clean their hands after the killing.”

Officials continued culling poultry on Thursday, with up to 344 birds kiiled, and continued education efforts in Kampong Speu province, following the discovery of bird flu in a Kandal man in late November.

The victim, Teng Sopheak, remains under treatment in Calmette hospital.

Experts worry that the H5N1 virus, carried in domestic and wild birds, could mutate into something more dangerous for humans. The virus can be spread from bird to human, but not from human to human.

Avian influenza has claimed at least seven Cambodians since 2005.

Officials Order Culling in Bird Flu Case

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 December 2008

Officials have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 “bird flu” virus in poultry in Kandal province’s Kandal Stung district, following the infection of one man last month.

Officials said Wednesday they will have to disinfect the area destroy hundreds of birds in an effort to contain the spread of the virus, which experts fear could mutate into a more dangerous form for humans.

People will be forced to stop the sale and transport of chickens in a three-kilometer radius in the area, while a 30-day inspection ensues.

On Wednesday morning, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture inspected Kandal poultry farms.

The ministry decided to kill 326 chickens, said Kao Phal, director of the agriculture department, “and we will continue with more chickens and ducks in the area.”

Ly Sovann, deputy director of the disease outbreak department of the Ministry of Health confirmed Wednesday there were areas that had been affected by the disease, but it had not mutated into something more dangerous for humans.

Avian influenza has killed at least seven Cambodians since 2005, though the most recent case has not been fatal.

Cambodia kills 320 fowl after bird flu outbreak

2008-12-17
Associated Press

Cambodian authorities killed some 320 ducks and chickens Wednesday southeast of the capital where a man last week became the country's eighth human case of the disease.

The Agriculture Ministry sent 30 veterinarians to kill the fowl after laboratory tests Tuesday showed that three ducks and one chicken had contracted the deadly H5N1 virus in the village where a man fell sick, said Kao Phal, the ministry's director of animal health and food production.

A 19-year-old man in Kandal province, 18 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Phnom Penh, tested positive for bird flu last Thursday. The man fell ill after touching a dead chicken, said Ly Sovann, a health ministry expert on bird flu.

The man remained hospitalized in the capital. The seven previous Cambodian victims of the disease died.

"His health is getting better day by day, but we need him to remain in the hospital for monitoring," Ly Sovann said.

Bird flu remains hard for people to catch, but health experts worry the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to direct contact with infected birds.

At least 246 people have died worldwide from the virus since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Cambodia confirms bird flu outbreak, starts culling

Wed Dec 17, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia began culling poultry near its capital on Wednesday, officials said, five days after a young man from the area was confirmed with H5N1 bird flu by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the government.

Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun told Reuters on Wednesday he had ordered a three-month ban on poultry transportation from the province of Kandal, 50 km (30 miles) south of Phnom Penh, after tests confirmed it was hit by the deadly virus.

The Health Ministry said in a statement last week the 19-year-old man, the eighth person in Cambodia to have contracted bird flu since its first case in 2005, was in stable condition in the capital's Calmette hospital.

The patient fell ill on Nov. 28 but was only confirmed as having bird flu on Dec 11, a Health Ministry-WHO statement said.

All seven of Cambodia's previous human cases have died.

Chan Sarun said ministry officials were also investigating in the province of Kampong Speu, 60 km west of Kandal, after reports of dead chickens and ducks.

Since H5N1 resurfaced in Asia in 2003 it has killed more than 200 people in a dozen countries, according to the WHO.

Experts fear the constantly mutating H5N1 virus could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and potentially kill millions worldwide.