An outbreak of H5N1 avian flu has hit a backyard poultry in southeastern Cambodia's Svay Rieng province, said a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) statement seen on Wednesday.

The virus killed 68 chickens and led to the destruction of 322 others, according to the OIE's statement, citing a report from the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture.

The outbreak was confirmed after the poultry owner reported poultry illnesses and deaths to the authorities on Jan. 25, it said.

"Three local chicken samples were taken and sent to the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute for diagnosis, and the sample test result confirmed positive for H5N1 (on Jan. 27)," it said.

It was the first outbreak in the kingdom since May 2016, the statement said, adding that animal health officials had sprayed disinfectants at the poultry farm, where the disease broke out.

H5N1 is a "high-mortality" disease, which had killed 37 Cambodians out of a total of 56 detected cases since 2005, according to the Ministry of Health.

source: Xinhua