Please know that most journalists today have no experience reporting on H5N1 avian flu. Hence the confusion and contradictions in many of the above reports.
This is what we know:
1) A girl was diagnosed and died this week from H5N1 avian flu. The ministry report is above in post # 4.
2) Contact tracing has been started and apparently 12 people are being screened for H5N1. Words to express this can be "suspected" or "under observation" as I posted on twitter:
FluTrackers.com
@FluTrackers
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8h
Cambodia - Media reports: 12 people (suspected?) with H5N1 avian flu after death of girl. 4 are symptomatic. Dead poultry at girl's home. https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/cambodia/cambodia-h5n1-tracking/968975-cambodia-death-of-11-yr-old-female-in-prey-veng-province-h5n1-avian-flu-february-22?p=969072#post969072… h/t Treyfish
3) Tests are pending from samples taken. This includes people, animals, birds, etc.
4) Media report there were dead animals of some type around the dead girl's home and this is supported by the ministry's request in post 4, "Please do not touch sick or dead animals, both domestic and wild birds."
5) At this moment in time there is no new official update on the ministry's site. http://www.cdcmoh.gov.kh/
Some journalists who have experience with H5N1 issues are:
Lisa Schnirring with CIDRAP,.
Judy Stone with Forbes,
Helen Branswell with Stat.
Jason Gale with Bloomberg,
Bloggers with H5N1 experience are:
MIchael Coston of Avian Flu Diary,
Crawford Kilian with H5N1 blog
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from the same paper that mentioned the 12
February 24, 2023
First bird flu death since 2014
Torn Vibol / Khmer Times
The Ministry of Health said yesterday it has discovered for the first time in nearly 10 years a fatal case caused by Avian influenza H5N1, also known as bird flu
The ministry said the 12-year-old girl in Prey Veng province who died from bird flu had probably gotten infected by wild animals.
According to a statement from the ministry, the girl resided in Roling village of Sithor Kandal district’s Romchek commune. The girl fell sick on February 16, with symptoms such as coughing and sore throat.
As the symptoms got severe, she was sent to the National Pediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
She passed away at the hospital on Wednesday, the day lab testing result of her sample from the National Institute of Public Health confirmed she was H5N1 positive.
The Health Ministry said its emergency response teams are investigating the area where the case happened.
The statement said “an irregular number of dead wild animals” were found near the place where the infected girl lived.
Samples from the dead animals were taken for lab testing and the ministry is awaiting the results.
Health teams are also doing contact tracing among the villagers in the areas to identify potential infections.
This marked the first case of death from bird flu since 2014 and the 57th case in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, in 2005 and 2014, the government has reported 37 H5N1-related deaths.
Health Minister Mam Bun Heng said in the ministry’s statement that bird flu can threaten people’s health, especially small children, and urged the public to be cautious when dealing with sick animals.
“Usually, children play with or feed the domestic birds or are exposed to them through other activities such as cleaning their cages or gathering bird eggs, so they are the most vulnerable group,” he said. “The children will also have contact with adults.”
....
Laboratory testing results will usually be available within 48 hours after sample receipt.
Public health expert Dr Quach Mengly said the disease has symptoms similar to a cold, cough, and fever and is highly life-threatening without treatment.
“To prevent the infection, please avoid touching and eating sick and dead animals,” he said. “Bury the dead animals properly, and wash your hands properly after that.”
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Published Date: 2023-02-23 14:40:56 EST
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (05): Cambodia (PY) H5N1, more cases suspected
Archive Number: 20230223.8708564
AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN (05): CAMBODIA (PREY VENG) H5N1, MORE CASES SUSPECTED
************************************************** **************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 23 Feb 2023
Source: Khmer Times [edited]
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/5012443...h5n1-bird-flu/
Ms. Youk Sambath, secretary of state of the Ministry of Health, has confirmed that the Ministry of Health's emergency response team has found 12 more people infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in Prey Veng province.
The news follows the death yesterday of an 11-year-old girl from HPAI A(H5N1) in Roleang village, Romlech commune, Sithor Kandal district, Prey Veng province.
The secretary of state stated that 4 of the affected people have begun to show symptoms. She added that the emergency response team took their samples for analysis at a laboratory in Phnom Penh, and the results will be released tomorrow [24 Feb 2023].
Ms. Youk Sambath also said that the Ministry of Health's emergency response team will continue to search for those affected by bird flu in schools tomorrow [24 Feb 2023].
With the discovery of the infected people, Ms. Youk Sambath called on the villagers to increase vigilance and health care and follow the instructions of professional officials.
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus that can cause illness in humans and many other animal species.
A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1, is the highly pathogenic causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as avian influenza ("bird flu").
It is enzootic (maintained in the population) in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED Rapporteur Mahmoud Orabi
[It appears that the above text referring to 12 more confirmed cases is in error since the results are still pending. The 4 symptomatic cases would seem to be highly suggestive of either a larger transmission event from the animal point source, or evidence of human-to-human transmission. It will be important to rule the latter out via monitoring as well as ensuring that any symptomatic animals are appropriately euthanized and disposed of to eliminate any further virus spillover. - Mod.JHhttps://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=8708564
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By MANSUR SHAHEEN DEPUTY HEALTH EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
UPDATED: 18:08 EST, 23 February 2023
.....The Khmer Times – a local newspaper – reported that the suspected patients have all been tested for the virus and are waiting on lab confirmation, four of whom are symptomatic.
Several experts in America fear the close proximity of the cases may be a sign of human transmission after causing an unprecedented number of cases among the world's bird population over the past year.
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Dr Arturo Casadevall, an immunologist at Johns Hopkins, reacted to the suspected outbreak in Cambodia. He wrote on Twitter: 'Key information is whether the 12 infected people obtained it from a bird source or from human-to-human transmission, which would be very worrisome.'
Dr Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and Chief of COVID Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, tweeted: 'Hope this wasn’t human to human, but I’m now getting to be worried,'
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Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng warned that bird flu poses an exceptionally high risk to children who may be feeding or collecting eggs from domesticated poultry, playing with the birds or cleaning their cages.
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Each person had samples were taken for analysis for a lab in Phnom Penh, the nation's capital, around 40 miles west of the rural province of Prey Veng, where the suspected cases were detected.
It is unclear whether this group of people had any interaction with the 11-year-old girl, or if they come from the same part of the province. It is also unclear whether they had interactions with any birds that could be carrying the virus.
More than 1.1million people live in Prey Veng, it is the third most populous province in the country, and known to be densely populated.
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Health officials have taken samples from a dead wild bird at a conservation area near the Prey Veng 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.
Experts warn that the virus is adapting in ways that allow it to cause outbreaks in other mammals - increasing the risk it could spread among people.
In Octobe
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Prey Veng is also were the girl who eventually died lived. She became ill on February 16 and was sent to be treated at a hospital in the capital........https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...
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Bird flu has reportedly killed a Cambodian girl and sickened others. What you need to know about H5N1
BYERIN PRATER
February 23, 2023 at 2:49 PM EST
An 11-year-old girl has died of bird flu in Cambodia, and multiple others who live in her area have been sickened, according to media reports, marking the first known H5N1 human infections in the country since 2014—and potentially setting the stage for sustained human-to-human transmission.
The Khmer Times, a Cambodian news outlet, reported Thursday that 12 additional people from Prey Veng had been infected, also citing the health ministry. Four of the 12 have begun to show symptoms, and results of lab testing should be released tomorrow, according to the Times, making it unclear if any have been officially diagnosed so far.
The World Health Organization is “aware of the media reports,” the organization told Fortune in a statement Thursday. “We are following up and are in close touch with Cambodian authorities. We will update as we have more information.”......
Only rarely have human cases occurred over the quarter century it’s been known to exist, with no sustained transmission reported among humans.
But “we cannot assume that will remain the case,” Ghebreyesus said Feb. 8. If birds have transmitted the virus to small mammals and it’s spreading among them—as seems to be the case, given recent mass mortality events among minks—it could signal that the virus has evolved and could spread more easily among humans, experts caution....
A new sustained mode of transmission?
The 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 3 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....
...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,”....
more herehttps://fortune.com/well/2023/02/23/...
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There are accounts on twitter that are taking advantage of the situation.
FluTrackers.com
@FluTrackers
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1m
There seems to be some exploitative tweets about the H5N1 death in Cambodia.
We do not know anything yet. We are watching developments.
Most likely the infection was caused by poultry/bird exposures.
Check our thread for continuing developments:
https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/cambodia/cambodia-h5n1-tracking/968975-cambodia-death-of-11-yr-old-female-in-prey-veng-province-h5n1-avian-flu-february-22-2023…Leave a comment:
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Seems to be a mistranslation 12 contacts, 4 with symptomsLeave a comment:
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I was thinking maybe 12 contacts with 4 showing symptoms. She caught it and died pretty fast, lots of people would be around her before she died. I’m betting other families would have children playing with her also around the birds.Leave a comment:
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Could there be a translation error from "suspected" or "in contact with" to infected ? Or was it a first test sent for confirmation?Leave a comment:
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BREAKING: Twelve people infected with bird flu were found and four people showed symptoms, a senior official of the Ministry called on people to be more careful
2023-02-23 08:09 pm
(Phnom Penh): Ms. Youk Sambath, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, told Fresh News on February 23, 2023 that the Ministry of Health's emergency response team found 12 people infected with the H5N1 bird flu girl in In Prey Veng province. Four of the affected people began to show symptoms.
Ms. Youk Sambath said that the emergency response team took their samples to the laboratory in Phnom Penh and the results will be released tomorrow.
Ms. Youk Sambath also said that the Ministry of Health's emergency response team will continue to search for those affected by bird flu in schools tomorrow.
With the discovery of the affected person, Ms. Youk Sambath called on the villagers to increase vigilance, health care and follow the instructions of professional officials.https://freshnewsasia.com/index.php/...
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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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4) Not all media reports after initial reports are correct. Proceed with caution and (double) check sources
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