Phnom Penh - Cambodian authorities began a cull of poultry and continued blood tests of residents near the capital Phnom Penh Wednesday, five days after a man from the area was diagnosed with avian influenza.

Department of Agriculture director Kao Phal said government workers had destroyed more than 300 chickens and ducks in a village in Kandal province and a 30-day quarantine had been placed on all poultry within 10 kilometres of the area.

"We will continue to destroy more chickens and ducks over the next 10 days in areas where we suspect there might be avian influenza," Kao Phal said.

The 19-year-old patient is the first person in Cambodia to be diagnosed with the H5N1 virus since 2005 and was in a stable condition in a Phnom Penh hospital on Wednesday.

He is eighth person to have diagnosed with bird flu in Cambodia since 2003. All seven previously infected people died.

Ly Sovann, deputy-director of the Department of Disease, said no more cases had been detected in the village or anywhere else in the country.

"We have been conducting blood tests in the village and surrounding areas and we will continue to do so, but at this stage we have not found any further human cases of avian flu," he said. (dpa)