Originally published March 29 2005
Cambodian line of defense against bird flu underfunded, undermanned
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Cambodia is one of the nations on the front line of the bird flu epidemic, but its under- funded public health systems struggle even to detect human cases of the disease, let alone to track it through the nation's poultry industry. Cambodia's disease surveillance program is run from a small office that must close each day at 7 p.m. because of a lack of electrical power. The country is seeking international aid to bolster its public health systems.
As Cambodia's chief of disease surveillance, Ly Sovann is responsible for spotting the stirrings of an epidemic in a country where the public health and veterinary systems are so impoverished that experts acknowledge they are probably failing to detect most of the human cases and have no idea how rampant the virus is among poultry.
International health specialists warn that avian influenza could kill millions of people worldwide if it has a chance to develop into a form easily spread among humans.
Cambodia is seeking $10,000 from foreign donors to purchase prepaid phone cards to allow local health workers to report on suspicious respiratory cases.
Cambodia's one confirmed human case of bird flu was not recognized by local doctors two months ago and was diagnosed only after the victim's family took her across the border for treatment in Vietnam, where the health system is more advanced.
They fear that those countries' primitive health care systems may not be able to diagnose or report human cases of bird flu, allowing the virus to spread.
Cambodia lacks trained doctors and clinicians, laboratory facilities, referral wards, epidemiologists and an overall health system tying them together for the fight against avian influenza, experts said.
He said he had secured his lone Internet connection only after prevailing on the health minister to seek help from the prime minister's office.
Compared with Vietnam and Thailand, Cambodia is fortunate because it has fewer chickens and ducks to spread the disease, and its dense commercial farms, which could offer the virus a welcome roost, are few and well-monitored, according to international agriculture experts.
Two days later, after the boy's condition worsened, the clinician sent him home so family members could pray to their ancestors in case the illness was caused by an affront to the spirits.
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