# 6257
The Phnom Phenh Post is reporting today (Apr 2nd) that a 6 year-old girl from Kampong Chhnang province died on Friday from the H5N1 virus. This is the first known case in that province, and the second reported case from Cambodia in 2012.
After seeing only 4 cases of H5N1 infection in humans between 2007 and 2010, Cambodia suddenly become the focus of renewed attention after 8 fatal cases were reported during 2011.
If confirmed by the World Health Organization, today’s announced case will make the 20th for Cambodia, of which 18 have proved fatal.
Here is the story from the Phnom Penh Post (h/t Carol@SC on the Flu Wiki).
Bird flu leaves one child dead
- Mom Kunthear
- Monday, 02 April 2012
A six-year-old girl from Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district died on Friday in the year’s second H5N1 fatality, Health Ministry and World Health Organisation officials said yesterday.
Morm Malay, deputy director of the provincial health department, said officials from the Health Ministry’s communicable disease control department had confirmed that Noy Makara had died of the virus, otherwise known as bird flu.
Noy Makara had fallen ill after eating the meat of a sick chicken, and her family had attempted to treat her with medicine and injections, he said.
Although the number of reported human infections in Cambodia remains small, over the past year ten cases have been reported across five provinces, suggesting the virus is probably well entrenched in the nation’s livestock.
Of the 11 cases reported out of Cambodia since 2010, none have survived. Prior to 2010, 7 of 9 known cases had died.
What we don’t know is whether there have been milder cases in Cambodia that have not been diagnosed, which would make the CFR (case fatality rate) lower than the 95% that these numbers would otherwise suggest.
While it is probable that some number of H5N1 cases go undetected, how many remains a mystery. Evidence for there being a lot of missed cases is scant, but for more on this debate you may wish to revisit The Great CFR Divide.
For now, bird flu remains primarily a threat to poultry. The virus remains poorly adapted to human physiology, and despite ample opportunities to cause illness in humans, the virus only causes rare, sporadic infections.
The concern, of course, is that over time the virus will adapt further and pose a pandemic threat to humans.
