More H5N1 bird flu found in birds in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Mar 16 (Reuters) The deadly H5N1 bird flu strain has turned up again in eastern Cambodia in the same province the virus hit last month, according to a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report obtained today.

''H5N1 has been identified in samples, showing that the virus is circulating,'' said the FAO bulletin, dated March 2.

It is not clear why the test results, which confirmed H5N1 around 30 km from another outbreak in the eastern province of Kampong Cham in February, took two weeks to emerge.

A Cambodian official who helps coordinate the impoverished Southeast Asian nation's bird flu surveillance network also confirmed it as H5N1, but asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.

The FAO said 450 ducks, 150 chickens and 15 fighting cocks had displayed symptoms such as respiratory difficulties and cloudy eyes.

Poultry in the immediate area were culled shortly after test results confirmed H5N1, officials said. There have been no reports of human infections in the affected district.

Bird flu has killed around 100 people worldwide since 2003.

Four of those victims were Cambodian.

REUTERS SY BST1633