Battambang Farm Workers Tested For Bird Flu
Battambang Province: On the morning of January 12, 2021, a team from the Battambang Provincial Health Department took samples from two workers who look after chickens at a chicken farm where the H5N1 flu outbreak occurred in Prek Kanchreng Village, Prek Luong Commune, Ek Phnom District, Battambang Province. The samples were then sent to Pasteur, Phnom Penh. The two workers who took care of and touched the dead chickens were Ron Panha, 21, and Khon Chivoan, 28.
Dr. Ouk Vitya, Deputy Director of the Battambang Provincial Health Department, said that the health of the two workers was normal and there were no noticeable symptoms.
He said that after taking their samples, he advised not to allow the two workers to walk anywhere, and stay away from others and wait for the test results to come back. He confirmed that the H5N1 flu can be transmitted from birds to humans, but no human-to-human transmission has been reported.
According to Mr. Ho Nam, the owner of the farm, the farm has been raising chickens for a month, importing 1,300 from a Vietnamese company and 200 farm chickens, more than 200 turkeys and some geese.
According to the care workers, the chickens started to get sick and died from December 31 to January 5, all of them died at once, and these dead chickens were buried and the farm sprayed with disinfectant.
It should be noted that Mr. Veng Sakhon, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, confirmed to the local media on the evening of January 11 that the results of the test on more than 1,000 dead chickens in Prek Ta Chreng village, Prek Narin commune, Ek Phnom district. Battambang has been shown to be bird flu (H5N1), but this type of disease does not affect humans.
Mr. Chhim Vichara, Director of the Battambang Provincial Department of Agriculture, called on the people who report any sick or dead chickens and suspected colds to report immediately to the local authority, officials of the Veterinary Office or the Department of Agriculture to intervene immediately. KBN
