Cambodia records 1st bird flu death in 9 years
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Feb 23 (EFE).- Cambodia reported Thursday its first bird flu death in nine years amid rising global concern about the disease.
The 11-year-old girl started feeling sick on Feb. 16, with symptoms including high fever, cough and a sore throat, which did not improve after three days of treatment in her village in Prey Veng province in southeast Cambodia, the health ministry said in a statement.
She was then moved to a children’s hospital in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Feb. 21, where she passed away the following day.
Tests conducted by the medical team at the time of her admission revealed that she had contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus.
It is the first death due to bird flu in Cambodia since 2014.
The country had recorded 37 deaths owing to the illness between 2003 and 2014.
Cambodia’s case comes at a time of increasing concern regarding bird flu due to its spread from birds to mammals in different parts of the world, prompting the World Health Organization to issue an alert on Feb. 8.
Although bird flu is an animal disease, it can be transmitted to humans who come in contact with sick birds. EFE
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