# 1646
It was almost a year ago when two Laotians died in March of 2007 from the H5N1 bird flu virus. Since then, there were some reports of poultry die offs in the spring, and of culling, but little other news from that nation.
Today the Vientiane Times is reporting that bird flu related poultry deaths have been recently recorded in the northern part of that nation. Thus far, no human cases have been reported.
A Hat Tip to Mojo on the Wiki for this link.
Bird flu resurfaces in northern Laos
Feb 12th, 2008
A fresh outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus has struck in Nam Ma village, Long district, in Luang Namtha province, according to a report from the Department of Livestock and Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The village of 53 houses lost 600 of its poultry stocks within three days last week, the Director General of the department, Dr Bounkhouang Khambounheuang, told Vientiane Times yesterday.
The village is in an isolated district about 35 km from the Myanmar and Chinese borders.
When poultry first started dying, the authorities sent staff from the provincial Livestock and Fisheries Office to investigate, and they sent samples of chicken meat to the National Centre for Animal Health in Vientiane on Friday for analysis.
The centre analysed the sample using the standard RT-PCR technique, and confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus on Saturday, said Dr Bounkhouang.
The department and the National Avian Human Influenza Coordination Office quickly took steps to contain the outbreak and sent technical staff to work with Luang Namtha provincial authorities in the village and initiate precautionary measures in nearby communities, he said.
Dr Bounkhouang said the department had placed a ban on the movement and sale of poultry or eggs, and had begun spraying birds with disinfectant.
Of the 1,700 poultry in the village, all within a one kilometre radius of the village will be destroyed.
“We will compensate people for their losses if we have to cull their birds, according to the rules of the department,” he said.
He said he believed that the virus had not yet infected any humans, but warned that the possibility was always there.
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