A Ministry of Agriculture adviser on Sunday warned an outbreak of the bird flu, which was confirmed at a farm near Phnom Penh Friday, could have already spread to other parts of the country despite the ministry’s efforts to contain the disease.
“We will be lucky if only one farm is infected,” said Stephanie Desvaux, adviser for the ministry’s Department of Animal Health and Production.
A French laboratory confirmed that chickens contracted avian influenza before hundreds of them died about 20 km from Phnom Penh, said Suon Sothoeun, the department’s deputy director.
Officials sampled the farm Jan 13, a few days after chickens began dying, Suon Sothoeun said.
Ministry officials said the Phoung Peay village farm, located in Russei Keo district’s Phnom Penh Thmei commune, was placed under quarantine Jan 12.
The bird flu has killed at least six people in Vietnam and has spread to six countries, including Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, according to news reports. Agence France Presse on Sunday reported two people are ill in Thailand. Humans can get the flu only through contact with the birds’ feces.
No humans have contracted the disease in Cambodia, Severin von Xylander, a World Health Organization medical officer, said by telephone Sunday. He added that it cannot be transmitted from human to human.
At the Phoung Peay village farm, where the contaminated chickens were discovered, red letters on the gate outside warn visitors: “No Entry.”
After closing the farm, ministry officials said they had sprinkled the grounds with lime, the chemical Ch4 and other disinfection material.
The smell of chemicals still lingers along with white ash-like dust near the chicken cages and the corrugated metal covering that used to house the manure pile.
Nget Wuthay, 26, who works on the farm, said the owner bought the chickens from Thailand one or two months ago. But he couldn’t remember the name of the company.
The farm’s owner, Chhun Huot, was unavailable for comment Sunday.
Nget Wuthay said chickens started dying on the farm about two weeks ago.
“One morning, I was feeding the chickens and I noticed they did not wake up,” Nget Wuthay said. “So I touched them, and they were dead.”
That morning, 50 or 60 chickens died and others had mucus running from their beaks, he said. He tried to revive the animals by injecting them with water, but they wouldn’t eat or move. After about 100 died, Chhun Huot informed officials at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Over the past month, Nget Wuthay said the farm had been selling the eggs, chickens and their manure for fertilizer.
Before government officials trucked the eggs and chickens away for extermination, about 300 of the farm’s 3,000 chickens had died, Nget Wuthay said.
Suon Sothoeun quoted the number at much higher—about 3,300. He could not explain the discrepancy.
Desvaux said officials are questioning whether the chickens were infected by “middlemen” who visited the farm as retailers or suppliers. The disease usually has an incubation period of five to seven days, she said. But, the chickens had been in Cambodia longer than that before they died.
Officials will meet today to discuss the disease and their next course of action. They have only confirmed the disease at one farm, said Kao Phal, director of Animal Health and Production Department.
“We are looking at this kind of disease seriously,” Kao Phal said.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press on Sunday reported China has joined the list of countries, which includes Bangladesh and Thailand, that have banned Cambodian poultry imports.
The ban is unlikely to hurt the country’s exports, however, as Cambodia doesn’t export chickens, ducks or their eggs to China, said Khlauk Chuon, deputy director of Camcontrol, a Ministry of Commerce department that inspects trade items.
“Maybe they want to show to the outside world that they have very strict protective measures,” he said.
