An 11-year-old girl has died from bird flu in Cambodia, according to a statement from the Southeast Asian country’s health ministry, quoted by the Associated Press news agency. The deceased girl lived in a rural area in Prey Veng province where it is common to live with poultry. After more than a week with symptoms – including a fever, cough and sore throat – she was diagnosed on Wednesday and died shortly thereafter. About 870 human cases of avian influenza virus A(H5N1) have been reported worldwide since 2003, and more than half have died, although almost all of these deaths occurred before 2020. The World Health Organization Salud report mentions just seven cases and two deaths in the last three years.
Cambodian health officials have urged citizens not to touch sick or dead birds. Health Minister Mam Bunheng has warned that avian flu poses a particular risk to children who come into contact with poultry, be it collecting the eggs, feeding them or cleaning the cages. Bunheng has detailed that 12 other people have been tested, including the girl’s father, who, according to another statement quoted by Portal, also tested positive although he has no symptoms. There is currently no evidence that the feared human-to-human transmission has occurred.
The A(H5N1) avian influenza virus does not normally infect cells in the human throat, but it can rarely colonize the lungs and cause fatal pneumonia. Cambodia detected 56 cases from 2003 to 2014 and 37 of them (66%) died, according to the World Health Organization. The fear is that the virus will mutate and learn to transmit effectively between people, something that has never been seen before. Just over a month ago, analysis of an outbreak at a Spanish mink farm set off alarm bells. The scientists warned that the virus most likely entered the fur farm in Carral (A Coruña) via a seagull and could be transmitted from mink to mink. It is the first known case of jumping between mammals.
The virus is spreading like never before. Europe is suffering from the worst bird flu epidemic in its history, with more than 50 million chickens culled in one year. Many American countries are on high alert. On January 7, a 9-year-old girl from rural Ecuador tested positive for the virus and was fine after being admitted to intensive care. It is the first case in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
The World Health Organization recorded two positive cases from two workers at a farm with 150,000 laying hens in Guadalajara, where avian flu broke out in September. A study released Thursday, led by scientists from the Department of Health’s Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, suggests the two workers did not become infected and that environmental contamination with genetic material of the virus was found.
The massive death of sea lions from bird flu in Peru also suggests the virus may be jumping between mammals in the wild, according to warnings from Argentine and Peruvian scientists a few weeks ago. The World Health Organization still classifies the risk to people as “low,” but the director-general of the institution, Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has repeatedly expressed his concern.
“The A(H5N1) virus has been widespread in wild birds and poultry for 25 years, but we need to closely monitor recent spread to mammals.” he claimed on February 8th. “Since the first emergence of A(H5N1) in 1996, we have observed only infrequent and nonprolonged transmission to humans and between humans. But we cannot assume that this will remain the case. We must prepare for any change in the status quo,” Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned.
you can follow THEME on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.