Two-year-old Cambodian girl dies from bird flu, health ministry says

Cambodia reported the death of a two-year-old girl on Monday due to bird flu – making it the second fatality from the virus within a span of two days in the country.

On 8 October, Cambodia’s health ministry announced the death of a 50-year-old man from Romeas Hek district in Svay Rieng province due to bird flu.

Local media reported that the two-year-old girl was from Prey Veng province and health investigators found dead chickens in her house.

This year, Cambodia has reported a total of four cases with three fatalities.

In February, the country documented an H5N1 case in an 11-year-old girl from Prey Veng province, followed by a confirmed infection in her asymptomatic father, who was isolated at a hospital.

The two cases in February marked Cambodia’s first H5N1 infections since 2014.

Cambodia’s ministry of health has urged citizens to be more vigilant about bird flu, which it says “continues to pose a threat to people, especially children and vulnerable groups”.

This marks the 59th documented case of bird flu in the country since the virus first emerged two decades ago.

Earlier, after the death of the 50-year-old man, the ministry said that their “officials are looking into the source of the infection and are examining any suspected cases or people who have been in contact with the victim”.

The disease typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact.

According to the World Health Organization website, since 2003, this virus has spread in bird populations from Asia to Europe and Africa, and to the Americas in 2021, and has become endemic in poultry populations in many countries.

“Outbreaks have resulted in millions of poultry infections, several hundred human cases and many human deaths. Human cases have been reported mostly from countries in Asia, but also from countries in Africa, the Americas and Europe,” it says.