# 4317
And, not unexpectedly . . . the culprit behind the deaths of thousands of ducks in Takeo Province is H5N1.
Bird flu kills Takeo ducks: govt
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 15:04
Chhay channyda and Jacob Gold
Sample tissue from ducks in Takeo province that died in an outbreak of a disease officials could not identify earlier this week have tested positive for the H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu, officials at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Tuesday.
In light of the test result, officials said they will move ahead with Monday’s order from the provincial agriculture department to destroy all live ducks and halt duck meat sales in the affected area. Since the outbreak began last month, 16,442 ducks have died and at least 31,000 live ducks are exhibiting symptoms of the virus.
Ly Sovann, deputy director of the Communicable Diseases Control Department at the Ministry of Health, confirmed the positive test result on Tuesday and related the contents of an unreleased statement from the Agriculture Ministry.
“The statement identified the bird flu-affected area as Pralay village, Romenh commune, Koh Andeth district. All ducks within 5 kilometres of the village will be incinerated, sales of duck meat will be stopped and local officials within 10 kilometres of the area must monitor both ducks and humans for signs of infection,” Ly Sovann said.
So far this outbreak is only reportedly affecting poultry, and as this article states, outbreaks of H5N1 are not unusual this time of year in South East Asia.
With the Lunar New Year’s celebration about to begin, and hundreds of millions of people traveling to their home towns and villages (see China: Spring Festival - High Risk Individuals Should Not Travel Home), concerns over the spread of infectious diseases in South East Asia always increases.
We’ll just have to wait to see if this annual mass migration spurs an increase in pandemic H1N1 in the region, or (less likely) contributes to an outbreak of human H5N1.
A hat tip goes to RoRo on FluTrackers for posting the above article.
