Credit Our World In Data
#18,784
For many Cambodian villagers, their wealth - and their food security - lies in what they can raise, forage, or grow. Cambodia has one of the higher rates (> 50%) of food insecurity in Southeast Asia, although the entire region is at risk.
For many families that means raising backyard poultry for eggs, meat, or to sell; something that villagers have done for generations. Most birds are kept free range, and biosecurity is generally nil.
While most governments strongly urge people to report sick or dying poultry to local authorities, Cambodia reportedly doesn't compensate small farmers for losses due to avian flu, which effectively disincentivizes many from reporting outbreaks.
Instead, villagers often opt to quickly consume the sick or dead birds (often sharing them with family or neighbors), or in extreme cases resort to the midnight dumping of dead birds in local rivers or lakes (see Vietnam: Dozens Of Sacks Of H5N6 Infected Chickens Dumped on Nghe An Beach).In yesterday's update on Cambodia's H5N1 surge, the WHO lists direct contact with sick, dead, or dying poultry as the primary risk exposure for the first 11 human infections of 2025.
Despite repeated warnings of the health risks from avian flu, convincing people that something they have been doing for generations - like raising chickens in their backyard - could suddenly be dangerous can be a hard `sell'.
A decade ago we saw similar (and often bitter) resistance to the notion that beloved camels in Saudi Arabia carried a new, deadly coronavirus (see Saudi Camel Owners Threaten Over MERS `Slander’).
This denial can run quite high; in 2015 - during a massive outbreak of HPAI H5 in Taiwan's poultry industry - the Taipai City council held a meeting where several people apparently ate raw chicken in solidarity with the embattled poultry producers to prove it’s safety.
In the fall of 2023 we looked at a Preprint: A Timely Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Avian Influenza (H5N1) in Rural, Cambodia, which found very lax attitudes regarding avian flu among the rural population (e.g. 23% of participants cooked sick or dead poultries for their families).
This study also reported that fewer than half (49%) of respondents were inclined to report sick or death poultry in their village to local authorities.
While the risks are undoubtedly higher in developing countries, 6 months ago the United States reported its first H5N1 fatality in someone raising backyard poultry in Louisiana.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jn 06, 2025 - The Louisiana Department of Health reports the patient who had been hospitalized with the first human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or H5N1, in Louisiana and the U.S. has died. The patient was over the age of 65 and was reported to have underlying medical conditions. The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.
The USDA (and many other agencies) continue to reassure that `Avian influenza is not transmissible by eating properly prepared poultry, so properly prepared and cooked poultry and eggs are safe to eat.' - but there is a catch.
As we've discussed previously (see Mixed Messaging On HPAI Food Safety), there is some degree of risk in the slaughtering of live birds and preparation of raw poultry; especially from birds raised at home or purchased from live markets.
Transmission
The most common way for the virus to enter a territory is through migratory wild birds. The main risk factor for transmission from birds to humans is direct or indirect contact with infected animals or with environments and surfaces contaminated by feces. Plucking, handling infected poultry carcasses, and preparing poultry for consumption, especially in domestic settings, may also be risk factors.
And last year the WHO published Interim Guidance to Reduce the Risk of Infection in People Exposed to Avian Influenza Viruses, which lists a number of `risk factors', including:
- keep live poultry in their backyards or homes, or who purchase live birds at markets;
- slaughter, de-feather and/or butcher poultry or other animals at home;
Far more attention needs to be paid to safe food handling practices in this time of HPAI. Unfortunately, agencies appear loath to speak directly about H5N1 safety during food preparation, providing links usually to generic `safe poultry handling' advice.
- handle and prepare raw poultry for further cooking and consumption;
While the risks from store-bought poultry here in the United States are likely still very low, that could change over time.
