The girl, from the province of Prey Veng (southeast), fell ill on February 16, with symptoms of fever, cough and dry throat, the government health monitoring agency (CDCD) said on Wednesday. .
She then died at a children’s hospital in the capital Phnom Penh, according to the official source, which does not specify the day. She was “positive for H5N1,” a strain of avian flu that is highly contagious in birds, the CDCD found.
The child’s father has also tested positive for the virus, raising fears of human-to-human transmission. Cases of human-to-human transmission of H5N1 avian flu are extremely rare: “He may have a little bit of virus in his nose but no symptoms. For the moment, we have not yet seen continuous transmissions but if suddenly, we see a second case then a third, then it would be a new element which would be worrying, ”said virologist Steven Van Gucht at the DH.
Call for vigilance
So, should we be worried? The World Health Organization (WHO) called for vigilance in early February against the risk of transmission of avian flu to mammals, after cases detected in foxes, otters or sea lions.
But examples of infected humans remain rare, with 868 confirmed cases of H5N1 over the past twenty years, for 457 deaths, according to the WHO.
In Cambodia, no cases in humans were recorded between 2015 and 2022, according to the UN agency, compared to 30 deaths between 2010 and 2014. Avian flu can be transmitted in the event of contact with birds.
Since the end of 2021, Europe has been grappling with its worst avian flu epizootic, which is also circulating on the American continent. This has led to the culling of tens of millions of domestic poultry around the world, many of which carry the H5N1 strain.
According to Steven Van Gucht, the information available is “rather reassuring” and we should “not worry too much”: “For the moment, the risk remains low for the general public and moderate for people who are exposed to sick birds. or dead,” he told DH.
