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WHO Confirms Bird Flu Case In Cambodia

 

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# 6076

 

Last Friday we learned of Cambodia’s first H5N1 case of 2012 via an article in the China Daily (see Xinhua News: 1st Cambodian H5N1 Case Of 2012). Today, we’ve confirmation from the World Health Organization on their Global Alert & Response page.

 

Avian influenza – situation in Cambodia

16 January 2012 - The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Kingdom of Cambodia has announced a confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.

 

The case was a 2 year-old male from Banteay Meanchey Province. He developed symptoms on 3 January 2012 and was admitted to hospital on 9 January 2012. He is on Tamiflu and has been ventilated.

 

There have been reports that boy was exposed to sick poultry in his village. He is the 19th person in Cambodia to become infected with the H5N1 virus; to date, 16 of these cases have died from complications of the disease.

 

The National and local Rapid Response Teams (RRT) are conducting outbreak investigation and response following the national protocol. Hospital staff who had contact with the case have been offered oseltamivir. To date, none of the human contacts have tested positive for A (H5N1).

 

 

Last year saw a major spike in the number of reported H5N1 cases in Cambodia - with 8 total - and all were fatal. Over the previous 4 years Cambodia had recorded only one case each year.

 

In 2011 the majority of cases were detected in Prey Veng Province (n=4) in the southern region of the country, but individual cases were reported in four other regions, including Banteay Meanchey Province.

 

With just one exception, all of the Cambodian cases over the past year have involved young children.

 

In January of 2011 we saw a 19 year old mother, and her child, succumb to the virus ( see WHO Update On Cambodian H5N1 Fatalities).

 

Although we continue to see isolated human infections around the world, for now H5N1 is primarily a threat to poultry.

 

The virus remains poorly adapted to human physiology, and despite ample opportunities in places like Egypt and Indonesia, only causes rare, sporadic infections.

 

The concern, of course, is that over time that could change.

 

And so the world remains at Pre-pandemic Phase III on the H5N1 virus, and we continue to watch for signs that the virus is adapting better to humans.

 

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Bird Flu
Cambodia
H5N1

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