Cambodia confirms bird flu outbreak

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia on Saturday confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu among poultry a little more than a week after a 13-year-old girl died of the deadly H5N1 virus.

The government said the fresh outbreak was discovered earlier this week in chickens and ducks raised in a family’s backyard farm in Kampong Cham province, 124 kilometres (77 miles) east of the capital Phnom Penh.

“We have a new outbreak of bird flu,” Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun told AFP.

The discovery came after the Cambodian girl died of bird flu last Thursday, becoming the kingdom’s seventh fatality from the H5N1 virus. Her death prompted the government to launch a week-long bird flu awareness blitz.

Following the latest outbreak, authorities killed some 100 chickens and ducks at the backyard farm in the eastern province, said the minister.

Cambodia has been praised by the United Nations for its rapid action against bird flu, which has helped spare it from the human and poultry deaths suffered by its neighbours.