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PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA says a 7-year-old girl is its sixth death from bird flu this year.
The Health Ministry said on Friday the girl from Prey Veng province died June 7 of respiratory complications. Cambodia has
now had 16 cases, and 14 victims have died. Its previous annual high was four deaths in 2005.
The ministry and the World Health Organization say 555 cases of bird flu have been confirmed since 2003 globally and
324 were fatal.
The H5N1 virus first raged across Asia in 2003, devastating poultry stocks. Many countries have improved farm hygiene to attack the virus at its source. Most human infections have been linked to
close contact with sick birds.
An 11-year-old Cambodian girl has died from bird flu, officials said on Wednesday, bringing to four the number of fatalities from the virus since the start of the year.
The girl,
from eastern Kampong Cham province, died on March 31, the health ministry and the World Health Organisation said in a joint statement.
Tests confirmed she had contracted H5N1 avian influenza.
“The girl is the
14th person in Cambodia to become infected with the H5N1 virus and the 12th to die from complications of the disease” since 2003, the statement said.
In early February, Cambodia reported its first bird flu fatality in nearly a year with the death of a five-year-old girl.
Later that month a mother and her 11-month-old son also fell victim to the virus.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed more than 300 people worldwide since 2003.
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