photo: AFP
Cambodia has issued a report that it is grappling with a surge in H5N1 cases, just as neighboring China is dealing with its own deadly oubreak of a different strain.
Cambodia was one of the countries where H5N1 showed up first and where many of its victims have died. A decade after the dangerous strain emerged first in Hong Kong, scientists are at a loss to decide what if any antigen shifts are occurring within the virus' own dna.
The H5N1 surge has already killed 8 people in Cambodia since the beginning of the year, six of whom were children, even after a massive cull of 13,000 chickens was done. Many chickens also died from the disease.
Cambodia is not a country with great resources. If the new strain found in China were to reach its shores, so to speak, it would cause havoc, considering the difficulties they already have in managing the older strain of avian flu.
Cambodia in effect is below China and almost directly in the path of migratory birds, which to date are still the main suspects in the development of the newly infective strain of H7N9.
This new outbreak of H5N1 in Cambodia is considered the worse to date in that country. Scientists are baffled at the spike in Cambodia, nor do they have any clues as to why this year has been deadlier than before.
Just like China, however, most of the problem with transmission of the disease comes from the close contact both Cambodian and Chinese have with birds or poultry, especially in wet markets.
In Cambodia alone, there are an estimated 20 million head of poultry, of which nearly 16 million are kept loose in rural gardens where they are more susceptible to getting the infection from migrating birds and other fowl.
Poverty is another concern. Many people refuse to rid themselves of chicken, even when infected, as it is often their only source of food.
Source: France 24/ 4.9.13
No comments:
Post a Comment