Home>News Center>World
         
 

Cambodian man confirmed dead from bird flu
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-24 15:52

A 28-year-old Cambodian man has died of bird flu at a hospital in Phnom Penh becoming the country's second victim of the virus, the health minister said.

The victim, Meas Ran, came from Kampot province which borders Vietnam and his village Tram Sasor is 20 kilometres away from the home of the first victim, who died in January after travelling for treatment to Vietnam.

"The tests show that the man had H5. It is in the bird flu group (of viruses). We sent a sample on Wednesday to France for further confirmation," Health Minister Nuth Sokhom told AFP as he travelled to Kampot province.

A chicken seller hangs birds on his motorcycle before heading to a Phnom Penh market. A 28-year-old man from Cambodia has died of bird flu at a hospital in the capital, the second victim of the deadly virus in the kingdom(AFP/File/Khem Sovannara)
A chicken seller hangs birds on his motorcycle before heading to a Phnom Penh market.[AFP/File]
The victim died on Tuesday, he said.

Director of the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh, Jean-Louis Sarthou, told AFP that "it couldn't be anything else except H5N1," and said that the sample was being sent to France merely as a formality.

The minister said between 400 and 500 chickens and ducks had died in the village but it was not known if Meas Ran, who worked as a travelling businessman and occasionally went to Vietnam, had been in contact with them.

He added that eight people who had been in contact with the victim had been tested for bird flu but cleared.

Nuth Sokhom said he was travelling to Kampot to help try to educate people about the disease, which has killed 34 people in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand. Both countries are neighbours of Cambodia.

Sarthou said that epidemiologists from the Pasteur Institute had been sent Thursday to the village to investigate.

Hospital staff who were in contact with the victim had also tested negative, he said, but pointed out that experts were still unsure over the exact incubation period of the bird flu virus.

"There are no other suspected cases in Cambodia," he said, adding that the new case was not overly alarming.

"We've always thought that if there were cases in the Mekong delta (in Vietnam) then there would be more on this side of the border," he said.

He noted monitoring and surveillance in Cambodia had improved dramatically since last year.

"In the whole of Kampot, even the smaller dispensaries know what they have to do (if they treat someone with symptoms) because there have been many missions from health officials," he said.

Yim Voeunthan, secretary of state at the ministry of agriculture, said more than 600 chickens had died in six villages in Kampot in the last 20 days and a further 100 had been culled Wednesday.

Eight samples of chickens from the area were being tested and Yim Voeunthan expected the results to be back later Thursday.

"Villagers were eating the dead chickens even through we warned them not to... Now the villagers are afraid. They dare not eat chicken anymore."

The transportation of poultry in and out of the district was banned, he added.

Directors of the eight Pasteur Institutes from across the Asia-Pacific region -- Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Noumea, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang and Phnom Penh -- were meeting in the Cambodian capital on Monday.

They would work to update and standardise their diagnosis methods for bird flu, Sarthou said.

The World Health Organisation said last week it was working with the health ministry on a public education campaign to fight bird flu to be funded by 40,000 dollars from the agency.

Until now, only 2,500 dollars has been spent on education in the predominantly agricultural kingdom of 13 million people.

Health experts have warned that the H5N1 virus could lead to a pandemic if the virus mutates and can be easily transmitted between humans.

A variation of bird flu was blamed for the deaths of as many as 40 million people worldwide in 1918.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

'Three-good' student system under revision

 

   
 

Japan's bid for UNSC seat opposed

 

   
 

Beijing unveils security plan for Olympics

 

   
 

Hu: Nation willing to restart nuke talks

 

   
 

EU official calls China embargo 'unfair'

 

   
 

Watchdog investigates baby oil fears

 

   
  Kyrgyz minister says ready to use armed force
   
  Airborne SARS transmission possible -- study
   
  Pressure mounts on North Korea for nuclear talks
   
  Arab leaders relaunch peace offer
   
  At least 14 dead in US refinery blast
   
  UK troops set to stay in Iraq until 2006
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Vietnam reports a new case of bird flu
   
CPPCC member: bird flu probably more troublesome than SARS
   
Fifteenth bird flu death in Vietnam
   
Bird flu kills 47th Asian victim in Vietnam
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement