Grappling with avian flu, Cambodians wait for compensation
In little more than a year, 16 Cambodians are known to have died from the human form of avian influenza H5N1, the highest number of fatalities in the world. Experts have met in Phnom Penh to try to work out why. … The latest victim of avian influenza was a 2-year-old girl from a village in Kampot province close to the border with Vietnam. The girl came down with flu-like symptoms in early March, several weeks after poultry began dying in her village. During that time, says the Ministry of Health, the girl had contact with dead poultry and also ate the meat. She died on March 14. Children are particularly susceptible to the virus: of the 56 human cases confirmed since H5N1 was first detected in people here in 2005, 44 were younger than 14. In total, 37 Cambodians have died from H5N1 in that period, around half since the start of last year. … Lotfi Allal is the team leader at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Disease (ECPAT), which works with officials in the Ministry of Agriculture to prevent avian influenza in poultry. The lack of compensation means people typically won’t report outbreaks of avian influenza, he says, but there are many other issues too and few lend themselves to easy solutions. “For instance, if you go to a village to ask famers, they will tell you they aren’t eating sick ducks and chickens – they say that they burn them,” he told DW. “The reality is different, but because they know it is not allowed, they [tell us] that they are not doing it.” …
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/851455.shtml#.Uzd_zKiSyls
