Prey Veng girl dies from H5N1 virus triggering alarm bells in Kingdom
| Publication date 23 February 2023 | 20:50 ICT
The Ministry of Health is calling on the public to prevent the spread of the avian flu H5N1 after it was confirmed to have killed an 11-year-old in Prey Veng province.
In a February 23 statement, the ministry said the girl resided in Rolaing village in Sithor Kandal district’s Romlech commune. She died on February 22 after admission to the National Paediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh.
It said the girl became ill with a fever of 39 degree Celsius on February 16 along with coughing and sore throat. She received treatment in the village for three days without improving before being transferred to the paediatric hospital on February 21.
According to the ministry, the patient’s village is located near a protected area that is home to many species of birds which have been dying recently at an uncommonly increased rate. Specimens of the birds were taken for testing earlier this month but no results have been released yet.
Im Rachna, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said that all 25 chicken and ducks at the girl’s home died. “Her home had 22 chicken and three ducks … But no one ate them; they were all burned.”
...No known human-to-human spread of the virus has ever occurred, it noted, and therefore it is more likely that the girl contracted the virus from her family’s livestock, which possibly contracted it from contact with a wild animal.
The response teams from the health ministry at the national and sub-national levels are investigating the case to trace the origin of the virus, along with educational measures in the communities.
Health minister Mam Bun Heng said children often play with livestock, regarding them as pets, which makes it easier for them to contract the virus.
“I call on all parents, caretak....
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