Cambodia finds three more bird flu suspected cases

Three people -- one adult and two children -- have found fever and respiratory symptoms and treated at the hospital in Phnom Penh, official said on Sunday.

The three suspected cases come from a village neighboring the one that a three-year-old girl was killed by bird flu on Tuesday, said Ly Sovann, head of the Health Ministry's infections disease department.

"They all have fever and respiratory symptoms like the suspected cases of bird flu," Ly said to Xinhua. "So they now stay at the hospital under the supervision and waiting for test results to confirm if they have the bird flu," he added.

The three-year-old girl was from Kompong Speu province Tuol Prik village, about 60 km southwest from the capital. She was thought becoming infected after playing with sick chickens in her village.

But seven other villagers from the girl's village with fever or symptoms were tested negative for the deadly virus in the French Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh. The little girl was the country's first bird flu cases this year and the fifth since early 2005.

"Cambodia has enhanced the measures to prevent the spread of bird flu virus," Ly Sovann said. He said that Cambodia now has two hospitals in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap province for special treatment for the virus. "But once it needs we will open three more to receive sick people and offer treatment," he added.

Source: Xinhua