Two bird flu outbreaks reported in northwest Cambodia

Two outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu have hit thousands of ducks in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap and Battambang provinces, a local English newspaper reported on Wednesday.

About 2,100 infected ducks died in Battambang and 180 more in Siem Reap as of Nov. 12, the Phnom Penh Post newspaper reported, citing a statement from the World Organization for Animal Health published on Monday. Currently, 8,800 ducks in the country remain susceptible to the illness.

The infected birds came from free-ranging backyard flocks.

"After having been informed by the owners that their duck flocks were sick and were dying, the district and provincial veterinary services went there to investigate and took some samples," the statement reads. "The result of test samples were confirmed positive with H5N1."

The latest outbreaks have yet to spread to human patients, according to Ly Sovann, director of the Cambodian Health Ministry's Department of Communicable Disease Control.

"We sent our response teams on Tuesday to monitor the human health of those who live in or near the affected areas," the newspaper quoted Sovann as saying. "Up to now, they collected five suspected human samples but all were negative."

The last detected human case of H5N1 avian flu in Cambodia was in March, said Sovann. The Ministry of Agriculture has not yet given a reason for these latest outbreaks. Enditem