Avian flu prevention in the heart of the markets

Cambodge Soir
15-08-2008

Today, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is launching a series of interventions in Kampong Thom amongst a dozen markets where live poultry is being sold.

Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, this action aims to sensitise the shopkeepers to the avian flu problem. “The goal is to help the market leaders, the poultry sellers, the butchers and the middlemen to understand the importance of respecting certain sanitary security measures in order to protect their source of revenue from avian influenza”, explains Kao Phal, director of the animal health department. Without sanitary measures, the markets are indeed a favourable breeding ground for diseases and thus expose man to possible contamination. The delegation will consequently teach the shopkeepers about the ways avian influenza is being transmitted as well as how to prevent a possible epidemic. This can be done through simple actions like the regular cleansing of the shop stands and birdcages, or by systematically separating chickens from ducks, the latter being natural carriers of the disease.

The last victim of avian flu was a poultry seller who picked up dead chickens in order to sell them. She died in April 2005, at the age of 20.