Cambodia confirms bird flu outbreak, starts culling

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-17 21:01

PHNOM PENH -- 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.

Dead ducks are hung at a farm in the outskirts of Phnom Penh December 17, 2008. 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. [Agencies]

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 November 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.

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