Two more districts in Cambodia hit by bird flu

Two more districts in Cambodia's eastern province Kampong Cham were hit by bird flu with about 3, 000 ducks died this week, officials said on Friday.

"The result of tests on dead duck samples taken from the two districts has shown that the ducks died of H5N1 virus," Yim Venthan, secretary of state of the Ministry of Agriculture said. Kampong Cham Province is about 100 km east of the capital Phnom Penh.

Last week in a village in southeast Prey Veng province, about 20 km from the Cambodia-Vietnamese border, more than 1,000 ducks were confirmed dead of H5N1 virus.

Moreover, the samples taken from three people who have got cough and fever were sent to Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh for testing and the results of test will be released in coming days, according to Ly Sovann, deputy head of the Health Ministry's Infectious Disease Department.

However, Ly Sovann said that "we could not call them (the three people) the suspected cases of bird flu now," as the authorities just took their samples for spot check because they have contacted with the dead poultry.

He said that prevention measures have already taken to control the new outbreak of virus, including to cull the remaining poultry, disinfect the areas and prohibit the trafficking of poultry in local area.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 140 people since 2003, including six in Cambodia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Source: Xinhua