An 11-year-old girl has died in Cambodia after contracting bird flu, local health officials said, a rare death in humans that comes during an outbreak of the virus in Europe.
In this poor kingdom of Southeast Asia, the last death linked to this animal disease dates back to March 2014, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.
The girl, from the province of Prey Veng (Southeast), fell ill on February 16 with symptoms of fever, cough and dry throat, the government health monitoring agency said on Wednesday ( CDCD).
She then died in a children’s hospital in the capital Phnom Penh, according to the official source, which does not specify the day.
The girl was “positive for H5N1”, a strain of avian flu highly contagious in birds, found the CDCD.
The virus has led to the slaughter of tens of millions of domestic poultry around the world, particularly in Europe struggling since the end of 2021 with its worst epizootic of avian flu which is also circulating on the American continent.
In early February, the World Health Organization (WHO) dismissed fears of an H5N1 pandemic, but called for vigilance after cases were detected in mammals, such as foxes, otters and sea lions.
Examples of infected humans remain rare, with 868 confirmed cases of H5N1 over the past twenty years for 457 deaths, including one in China, according to the WHO.
In Cambodia, no human cases were recorded between 2015 and 2022, according to the UN agency, compared to 30 deaths between 2010 and 2014.
dead wild birds
This is the 57th case detected since 2003. Only 19 people survived, said the Cambodian Ministry of Health.
“Bird flu still continues to threaten the health of Cambodians and especially affects children,” responded Health Minister Mam Bunheng.
The leader called on parents to keep their children away from sick or dead poultry and other birds.
Many dead wild birds have been found near a lake near the village where the deceased girl lived and authorities are awaiting the results of tests to determine the presence of the bird flu virus, he added.
The previous such death in Cambodia involved a two-year-old girl, who had direct contact with dead chickens, the WHO said at the time.
In 2013, 14 people died of bird flu in the kingdom, which then experienced its worst outbreak since 2003.
The virus can be transmitted to humans, most often by direct contact with infected farmed poultry.
The WHO wanted to be reassuring about the low risks of infection between humans because the virus is not well adapted, but the intense spread among small mammals creates the possibility that it could evolve.