Tuesday, 16 December 2008

Bird flu threatens poultry sales in Cambodia at New Year

People's Daily Online
December 16, 2008

Cambodian poultry vendors feared the latest case of bird flu would once again hit demand for chickens and ducks, just weeks before the Chinese New Year when they traditionally make their biggest sales, national media reported Tuesday.

Vendors in Phnom Penh told the Cambodia Daily that their sales has not yet been affected by the announcement Friday that a 19-year-old man from Kandal province was found to be infected with the H5N1 virus.

But they expressed concern about their business, which has been adversely affected by the seven previous bird flu cases found in humans in Cambodia, all of which were fatal, the newspaper said.

"My business went down for about a month after the bird flu first occurred in Cambodia but after that, it became normal again for Cambodians to buy chickens," said Huy Say, who sells ducks and chickens at O'Russei market.

He added that a similar pattern has repeated every time after a bird flu case was revealed.

Meanwhile, Cambodian Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said Monday that people and animals were being tested and that no new infection had yet been found.

Source: Xinhua

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