Officials investigating two avian flu outbreaks
The Ministry of Health is testing a suspected human avian flu case following an outbreak in poultry in Svay Rieng province, with experts also investigating a different avian virus – H7N3 – new to Cambodia and discovered in ducks last month in Kampong Thom province, officials said on February 1. Dr Sen Sovann, deputy secretary-general at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said a total of 65 domestic chickens, belonging to three households in Bayab village in Svay Chrum district, were found dead on January 25. Animal health officials then had to cull another 224 chickens and destroy 100 eggs to prevent further spread. Officials on Saturday received results confirming avian flu to be behind the die-off, Sovann said. “Measures were taken . . . to prevent further spreading,” he said. “Culling was done to prevent incidents in humans.”
