The government of Cambodia has confirmed that an 11-year-old girl died from a bird flu infection.
Cambodia's Minister of Health, Mam Bunheng, announced on Thursday that this was the first H5N1 Cambodia human case since 2014.
The health ministry's statement noted that the girl from Prey Veng province, east of Phnom Penh, was diagnosed with bird flu on February 16 after developing a high fever and cough, according to The Guardian.
The girl's condition worsened while at the hospital and she was taken to the national children's hospital in Phnom Penh, where she later died on Wednesday, according to the health ministry.
Or Vandine, Cambodia's Secretary of State and spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, said that 11 other persons who had come into close contact with the child had been tested for bird flu in a laboratory. Just the girl's 49-year-old father came up positive for the H5N1 virus. She stated a Bird Flu Cambodia investigation is still going on, per Bloomberg.
Almost 200 million birds have died from bird flu and subsequent mass culls since the beginning of last year, per the International Organisation for Animal Health.
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WHO Signals Alarm
The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month that H5N1 had spread to animals, but the disease is not much of a threat to humans.
H5N1 Human Cases present with flu-like symptoms such as cough, pains, and fever, and in severe instances, patients may develop life-threatening pneumonia.
Earlier this month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced alarm about the emergence of bird flu in many mammalian species, DW reported.
According to the WHO, there have been more than 450 confirmed H5N1 Human Cases worldwide that have resulted in death since 2003.
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