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Cambodia reports bird flu outbreak
Saturday, August 12, 2006 Posted: 0746 GMT (1546 HKT)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry has confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the country's southeast, a ministry official said Saturday.
Kao Phal, director of the ministry's animal health department, said the outbreak was the virulent H5N1 type of the virus.
It was detected Friday in Prey Veng province, which borders Vietnam, he said.
The H5N1 virus, which re-emerged in Asia in late 2003, has killed at least 138 people worldwide, including six in Cambodia.
The announcement came after the government ordered health officials to be on alert for possible human cases of bird flu.
The alert followed recent outbreaks of the virus in poultry in neighboring countries and two recent human deaths from the disease in Thailand, a bird flu bulletin compiled by United Nations agencies said.
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 centers" on suspected human cases of bird flu.
On Friday, Vietnam reported its first cases of bird flu in poultry since December, sparking fears of a resurgence of the virus in the country, which had been hailed for controlling its spread.
The U.N. bulletin said that since early this month, a Cambodian bird flu telephone "hot line" had received more than 150 calls from people in the countryside informing officials about dead poultry or asking for information about symptoms of the disease.
It also said a daily one-hour radio call-in program about bird flu was launched early this month on a local station.
The bulletin is published jointly by the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNICEF.
The government has also enlisted Buddhist monks to help spread information on the virus. Workshops will be held this month for monks and other citizens at 2,538 pagodas in 11 provinces, the U.N. said Wednesday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/...flu.cambodia.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Saturday, August 12, 2006 Posted: 0746 GMT (1546 HKT)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry has confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the country's southeast, a ministry official said Saturday.
Kao Phal, director of the ministry's animal health department, said the outbreak was the virulent H5N1 type of the virus.
It was detected Friday in Prey Veng province, which borders Vietnam, he said.
The H5N1 virus, which re-emerged in Asia in late 2003, has killed at least 138 people worldwide, including six in Cambodia.
The announcement came after the government ordered health officials to be on alert for possible human cases of bird flu.
The alert followed recent outbreaks of the virus in poultry in neighboring countries and two recent human deaths from the disease in Thailand, a bird flu bulletin compiled by United Nations agencies said.
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 centers" on suspected human cases of bird flu.
On Friday, Vietnam reported its first cases of bird flu in poultry since December, sparking fears of a resurgence of the virus in the country, which had been hailed for controlling its spread.
The U.N. bulletin said that since early this month, a Cambodian bird flu telephone "hot line" had received more than 150 calls from people in the countryside informing officials about dead poultry or asking for information about symptoms of the disease.
It also said a daily one-hour radio call-in program about bird flu was launched early this month on a local station.
The bulletin is published jointly by the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNICEF.
The government has also enlisted Buddhist monks to help spread information on the virus. Workshops will be held this month for monks and other citizens at 2,538 pagodas in 11 provinces, the U.N. said Wednesday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/...flu.cambodia.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
