This week, an eleven-year-old girl died of bird flu in Cambodia, according to the country’s health authorities, according to the news agency AP.
It is the first known bird flu case in Cambodia since 2014.
Bird flu is a contagious viral disease in birds, which can also infect other animal species.
Hundreds washed up
The girl from the south-eastern province of Prey Veng fell ill on 16 February and received treatment at the hospital in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
She was diagnosed with bird flu after experiencing symptoms such as a high fever, cough and sore throat. A short time later she died, the health authorities said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
Now the population fears that the virus will spread.
Risk to children
The health authorities have taken samples from a dead wild bird in a protected area near the girl’s home, the Ministry of Health in Cambodia said on Thursday.
Representatives from the authorities also seek out residents to warn them against coming into contact with dead and sick birds for fear of more cases of infection.
WARNING: Residents of Cambodia with bird flu information posters. Photo: AFP / NTB
sea view
Cambodia’s Health Minister Mam Bunheng has stated that bird flu poses a particular risk to children.
According to The Norwegian Food Safety Authority It is very rare for bird flu to be transmitted from birds to humans, but it can happen through close contact with sick or dead birds – which can lead to serious illness.
Found dead in the bathroom
The disease is not contagious to humans via food or drinking water.
The symptoms of bird flu are similar to other flu viruses: Cough, pain and fever are common, as well as life-threatening pneumonia in severe cases.
– Should be closely monitored
According to the AP news agency, 56 cases of bird flu were recorded in humans in Cambodia between 2003 and 2014. 37 of them were fatal, according to the World Health Organization.
Worldwide, 870 cases of infection and 457 deaths have been registered, spread across 21 countries.
The infection has decreased in recent years, and since 2016, 170 cases of infection and 50 deaths have been registered.
CONCERN: The authorities inform – and local residents express concern. Photo: AP / NTB
sea view
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed concern earlier this month about bird flu infections in mammals, including mink, otters, foxes and sea lions.
Since January, over 600 dead sea lions have been found in the sea and along the coast in Peru. The cause of death should be bird flu, according to researchers.
– Adults are the worst
Bird flu has also been detected in dead birds in several counties in Norway recently.
– Bird flu has been spreading in wild birds for 25 years, but the recent increase in infections in mammals should be carefully monitored, warned Ghebreyesus.
– BE MONITORED CAREFULLY: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the World Health Organization. Photo: Johanna Geron / AP / NTB
sea view
– Low risk
In January, a nine-year-old girl in Ecuador was also diagnosed with bird flu – the first recorded case in a human in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Earlier in February, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus nevertheless assured that the World Health Organization considers the risk of infection from birds to humans to be low.
– But we cannot assume that it will remain like this, and we must be prepared for any change to the status quo, he stated, and at the same time warned people against having contact with sick and dead animals.
He also asked the authorities in several countries to monitor the situation closely, particularly in areas where contact between animals and humans occurs.
