The fear of a serious outbreak of bird flu among people due to the death of an eleven-year-old Cambodian girl seems to be unfounded so far. The child’s father also tested positive for the H5N1 virus, but 11 other people she had contact with did not.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a number of these people showed flu symptoms, but they were not caused by the dreaded virus.
The girl’s father had no physical complaints. He is still in isolation in a hospital. It was Cambodia’s first case of avian flu infection in a human since 2014.
Experts are afraid that the virus, which regularly strikes worldwide among (water) birds, adapts to mammals and then also becomes a danger to humans. Recently, infections have been reported among sea lions, raccoons, foxes, bears and martens.
According to the WHO, human-to-human transmission of H5N1 is very uncommon. In Cambodia, the investigation into how father and daughter contracted the virus is still ongoing. In recent weeks, large numbers of wild birds have been found dead in the vicinity of their home.
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