UPDATED (See bottom) 13:30 EDT 4/21/11
# 5510
AFP is reporting this morning on Cambodia’s 5th bird flu cae of 2011, once again a child (age 5) , who died on April 16th in Prey Veng province.
Of the 5 cases this year, 4 have been in children. All of the cases this year have been fatal.
Prey Veng Province was the site of the 2nd and 3rd cases, reported back in February.
It was just Monday of this week that IRIN carried a report called CAMBODIA: Bird flu risk "under control", say health experts.
While the appearance of a 5th case doesn’t necessarily negate that assessment, after several years of little reported H5N1 activity, in less than 3 months Cambodia has tripled their total number of known bird flu cases.
Making Cambodia well worth keeping an eye on.
UPDATE: The World Health Organization has posted an update on this latest case, reported earlier today in the media.
Avian influenza – situation in Cambodia - update 3
21 April 2011 - 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 5 year old girl from Pea Raing district, Prey Veng Province. She developed symptoms on 11 April, was initially treated by local private practitioners with no effect and was later admitted to Kantha Bopha Children Hospital on 13 April. Despite all intensive care, she died on 16 April, four days after admission.
There have been reports of poultry die off in her village. The girl is the fifteenth person in Cambodia to become infected with the H5N1 virus and the thirteenth to die from complications of the disease. All five cases of H5N1 infections in humans in Cambodia this year have been fatal.
Specimens from 53 contacts of the cases were collected and are being tested by the National Institute for Public Health laboratory.
