11-year-old Girl in Prey Veng Died of H5N1 Bird Flu
22 February 2023
RIP

Phnom Penh (FN), Feb. 22 – An 11-year-old girl died of H5N1 bird flu, Youk Sambath, secretary of state of the Ministry of Health told Fresh News on Wednesday (Feb 22).

The girl lived in Roleang village, Romlech commune, Sitho Kandal district, Prey Veng province.

"The girl was sick on 16 February 2023 with symptoms of afever of 39 degrees Celsius, coughing, and sore throat, Sambath said.
=FRESH NEWS
http://en.freshnewsasia.com/index.php/e ... 41-13.html

Further information:

Bird flu kills 11-year-old girl in Cambodia, officials say
By SOPHENG CHEANG an hour ago
AP
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — An 11-year-old girl in Cambodia has died from bird flu in the country’s first known human H5N1 infection since 2014, health officials said.

Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, normally spreads in poultry and wasn’t deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak among visitors to live poultry markets in Hong Kong. Most human cases worldwide have involved direct contact with infected poultry, but concerns have arisen recently about infections in a variety of mammals and the possibility the virus could evolve to spread more easily between people.

The girl from the rural southeastern province of Prey Veng became ill Feb. 16 and was sent to be treated at hospital in the capital, Phnom Penh. She was diagnosed Wednesday after suffering a fever up to 39 Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) with coughing and throat pain and died shortly afterward, the Health Ministry said in a statement Wednesday night.

Health officials have taken samples from a dead wild bird at a conservation area near the girl’s home, the ministry said in another statement Thursday. It said teams in the area would also warn residents about touching dead and sick birds.

Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng warned that bird flu poses an especially high risk to children who may be feeding or collecting eggs from domesticated poultry, playing with the birds or cleaning their cages.

Symptoms of H5N1 infection are similar to that of other flus, including cough, aches and fever, and in serious cases, patients can develop life-threatening pneumonia.

Cambodia had 56 human cases of H5N1 from 2003 through 2014 and 37 of them were fatal, according to the World Health Organization.
https://apnews.com/article/science-camb ... aaa119bc0b

February 23, 2023 at 8:49 PM
A new sustained mode of transmission?

Reports of the Cambodian girl’s death and sickened locals “does raise the concern that we are transitioning from what has been a bird-to-human status quo to more of a human-to-human transmission scenario,” Rajiv Chowdhury, senior epidemiologist and professor of global health at Florida International University, told Fortune on Thursday.

It has not yet been determined how the girl was infected, though 22 chickens and three ducks at her home recently died, and there has been an unusual number of deaths among wild birds in the area as of late, BNO News reported Wednesday, citing Cambodian government officials. It’s also unclear if the individuals experiencing symptoms who live near the girl had contact with birds.

“I recommend that people do not touch dead or sick birds,” Chowdhury said, adding that children especially should be prevented from collecting eggs and/or playing with domestic poultry.

Pathogen surveillance systems must be “strengthened worldwide to prepare and act for any further outbreak,” he added.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Fortune that it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions from the relatively little information available.

The strain of H5N1 spreading in millions of birds throughout the world, clade 2.3.4.4b, “has not been causing severe human disease in the manner of other clades of the virus,” but “it has the ability to do so,” he said. “It will be important to see if the other ill individuals actually have H5N1 influenza and what their risk factor was. Did they have exposure to poultry species?”

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Fortune that the report, not yet confirmed by the WHO, is “very concerning.”

Even if sustained human-to-human transmission is not taking place in Cambodia, Chowdhury is concerned about a recent pattern of spillovers from birds to humans “in entirely different parts of the world.”
Excerpt from : https://fortune.com/well/2023/02/23/h5n ... acts-sick/

UPDATE
BREAKING: Cambodian Health Ministry Detects Second Case of H5N1
Created: 24 February 2023

Phnom Penh (FN), Feb. 24 – Cambodian Ministry of Health, on Friday morning, issued a statement confirming the discovery of the second case of bird flu (H5N1) in Prey Veng province on a man, the father of a girl who died of the H5N1 on 22 February 2023.

The patient lives in Roleang village, Romlech commune, Sithor Kandal district, Prey Veng province.
=FRESH NEWS

Health Officials Lance H5N1 Bird Flu Alert

Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): The Ministry of Health of Cambodia on February 24, 2023 issued a notification of the discovery of the second case of bird flu (H5N1) transmitted to humans in the Kingdom of Cambodia this week.

The Ministry of Health said that after the death of an 11-year-old girl on February 22, 2023, in Roleang village, Romlech commune, Sithor Kandal district, Prey Veng province, a team of health authorities immediately went to the village. On 23 February 2023, the emergency response team collected samples from the villagers for analysis at the Public Health Research Institute.


The result of the analysis from the Public Health Research Institute confirmed that the sample taken from the 49-year-old father of the deceased girl tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus. However, the man's health condition has not shown any significant symptoms yet.


To prevent the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Cambodian Ministry of Health has issued the following instructions to the population :
- Wash your hands often with soap and clean water before and after eating and after exposure to poultry,
- Stay away from birds, keep birds away from habitat, do not let them into the living areas
- Prevent children from petting the poultry, or playing in areas with poultry droppings and feathers
- Do not eat sick or dead birds, and all birds used for food must be well cooked
- Report sick birds to the local authorities

- Immediately notify the local health authority or the Ministry of Health in case of any suspicion that an illness may be the H5N1 bird flu virus, and seek immediate medical attention. If children have signs of shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, take them to an emergency room at a health facility (health center or public hospital).
- KOHSANTEPHEAP

If you do not raise or sell poultry, or live on a farm, you and your family have very little risk of becoming infected with H5N1 bird flu, but here are the answers to two questions you may be asking.
Summary
- The symptoms of H5N1 in humans often affect the respiratory system and include a high fever
- Yes, it is safe to eat chicken and poultry if it is properly cooked

More Q&As are on the link below.
From the World Health Organization website.
Influenza: H5N1
11 March 2012 | Q&A

What are the symptoms of H5N1 avian influenza in humans?
The symptoms of H5N1 infection may include fever (often high fever, > 38°C) and malaise, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches. Other early symptoms may include abdominal pain, chest pain and diarrhoea. The infection may progress quickly to severe respiratory illness (for example, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and neurologic changes (altered mental status or seizures).

Is it safe to eat chicken, poultry products and other wild game birds?
Yes, it is safe to eat properly prepared and cooked poultry and game birds. The virus is sensitive to heat. Normal temperatures used for cooking (so that food reaches 70°C in all parts) will kill the virus. As a standard precaution, WHO recommends that poultry, poultry products and wild game birds should always be prepared following good hygienic practices, and that poultry meat should be properly cooked.

To date, a large number of human infections with the H5N1 virus have been linked to the home slaughter and subsequent handling of diseased or dead birds prior to cooking. These practices represent the highest risk of human infection and are the most important to avoid.
https://www.who.int/news-room/questions ... uenza-h5n1

Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu since late 2021, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks.

Tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain, have been culled.

The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The recent detection of the disease in a number of mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked concern that humans could be more at risk.

Globally, there have been more than 450 fatal bird flu cases since 2003, according to the WHO.

Source: AFP/rj

kagi wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:30 pm Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu since late 2021, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks.

Tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain, have been culled.

The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The recent detection of the disease in a number of mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked concern that humans could be more at risk.

Globally, there have been more than 450 fatal bird flu cases since 2003, according to the WHO.

Source: AFP/rj

Yeah yeah ... I remember the reports of deer getting Covid in Michigan and how the Toronto Zoo gave the Moderna vaccine to all the animals ..... Considering those 450 fatal bird flu cases in the past 20 yrs, one can only hope justified panic sets in and folks do the right thing and tremble in fear !!

CaptainCanuck wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 8:26 pm

kagi wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:30 pm Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu since late 2021, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks.

Tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain, have been culled.

The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The recent detection of the disease in a number of mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked concern that humans could be more at risk.

Globally, there have been more than 450 fatal bird flu cases since 2003, according to the WHO.

Source: AFP/rj

Yeah yeah ... I remember the reports of deer getting Covid in Michigan and how the Toronto Zoo gave the Moderna vaccine to all the animals ..... Considering those 450 fatal bird flu cases in the past 20 yrs, one can only hope justified panic sets in and folks do the right thing and tremble in fear !!

Well CaptaonCuckhold, it's the first time since 2014 someone has passed from the bird flu in the Kingdom.

Please stop looking so much into everything, I promise you'll live a much happier life.

Darkcel wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:05 pm

CaptainCanuck wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 8:26 pm

kagi wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:30 pm Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu since late 2021, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks.

Tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain, have been culled.

The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The recent detection of the disease in a number of mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked concern that humans could be more at risk.

Globally, there have been more than 450 fatal bird flu cases since 2003, according to the WHO.

Source: AFP/rj

Yeah yeah ... I remember the reports of deer getting Covid in Michigan and how the Toronto Zoo gave the Moderna vaccine to all the animals ..... Considering those 450 fatal bird flu cases in the past 20 yrs, one can only hope justified panic sets in and folks do the right thing and tremble in fear !!

Well CaptaonCuckhold, it's the first time since 2014 someone has passed from the bird flu in the Kingdom.

Please stop looking so much into everything, I promise you'll live a much happier life.

Are you ok ? My life is great, thanks for asking ... if you didn’t notice, I was responding tongue in cheek to the panic peddler above .... You really ought to try harder to follow whole threads instead of yapping without proper context .... just a suggestion DC