The Lao government had culled as many as 40,000 poultry in 16 farms in Vientiane city and shirt areas in order to contain the outbreak of bird flu which had struck it's neighboring countries, Vietnam and Thailand, the Bangkokbiznews.com reported Tuesday.

Bounlom Douangngeun, director of the Lao National Animal Health Center, was quoted as saying that the government had found bird flu infection cases in farms in five districts of Vientiane and had destroyed 40,000 poultry to control the spread of the fatal epidemic.

The number of dying chickens suspected of having been infected by the disease had been decreased but the strict measures would be carried on continuously, he said.

The report said Lao authorities found that only Vientiane and its environs had suffered outbreaks of avian influenza and had not found any patient infected by the disease.

Pachone Bounma, a senior official from the Lao Agriculture Ministry, revealed that a suspected "cholera" outbreak had been reported on a farm in the southern province of Champasak and the sample of chicken had been sent to Kone Kaen province of Thailand to test.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2004)