Pasteur International EN - Participating countries

Activities & projects / Projects / SISEA / Participating countries

Cambodia

In Cambodia it was possible to implement the project from April 2007 onwards in two sentinel hospitals: Takeo Provincial Hospital (75 km south of Phnom Penh) and Kampong Cham Hospital (100 km east of Phnom Penh). Cases were included straight away and a virological analysis immediately carried out.

The SISEA project has also been partly instrumental in establishing a regional Biosafety Level 3 laboratory in Cambodia, which was inaugurated on April 25, 2008. At 140m², it is the biggest complex at this biosafety level in South-East Asia. In addition to its role in the SISEA project, the Biosafety Level 3 laboratory is an essential part of the “National Influenza Center” of the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia, officially named by the Cambodian Ministry of Health and the WHO’s Regional Office in Manila as a member of the “WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network.”

In 2007, a total of 578 patients were included in epidemiological and virological surveillance activities. At the end of 2008, 1687 patients had been included at Takeo Hospital and 300 at Kampong Cham Hospital. Bacteriological and virological analysis of samples confirmed the presence of a pathogen (bacterium or virus) in 47% of cases. The most commonly found bacteria were: Haemophilus influenzae (33%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (18%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (18%) and Burkholderia pseudomallei (10%), the infectious agent responsible for melioidosis. The proportion of viral infections has been demonstrated at 20%, with PCR analysis identifying mainly respiratory synclinal viruses and rhinoviruses.

In the first half of 2009, around 700 new patients were included and the results confirmed the first analyses. SISEA’s epidemiological data was subsequently included in the monthly bulletin issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Health.