Battambang Province – Credit Wikipedia
While the rest of the cases reported this year in Cambodia have all come from the southern provinces –today’s reported fatality comes from Battambang Province in the country’s northwest - along the border with Thailand.
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One of the two children reported to be infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus last week (see Cambodia: 15th & 16th H5N1 Case Of 2013) has died, according to the following report from AFP.
Cambodian boy dies from bird flu: WHO
POSTED: 19 Aug 2013 2:49 PM
A nine-year-old boy has died from bird flu in Cambodia -- the 10th victim in the country this year -- the World Health Organisation said on Monday, warning that the kingdom's deadliest outbreak of the virus could continue.
PHNOM PENH: A nine-year-old boy has died from bird flu in Cambodia, the 10th victim this year, the World Health Organisation said on Monday, warning that the kingdom's deadliest outbreak of the virus could continue.
The boy, from the northwestern province of Battambang, died in a children's hospital in the nearby tourist hub of Siem Reap on Sunday night after falling ill last month, the WHO in Cambodia said in a statement.
From last week’s joint Cambodian-WHO press release we learned the following details of this case:
The 15th case, a 9-year-old boy from Damnak Dangkor Village, Raing Kesey commune, Sang Ke district in Battambang province was confirmed positive for human H5N1 avian influenza on 9th August 2013 by Institut Pasteur du Cambodge.
The boy developed fever and vomiting on 26th July. He was given home-treatment by a health centre staff. On 2nd August, his condition became worse and his parents took him to a private clinic in Battambang. The private clinic referred him to the Battambang Provincial Hospital the same day. On 4th August, he was transferred to the Jayavarman V11 Hospital in Siem Reap with fever, cough, vomit, abdominal pain and dyspnea and treated with Tamiflu on 9th August. The boy is currently in a stable condition. There were recent deaths among chickens and ducks in the village. The boy carried dead and sick ducks and chickens from a cage for food preparation by his sister before he became sick.
Today’s report marks the 10th fatality this year from the virus in Cambodia.
For now, H5N1 remains poorly adapted to humans, only causing sporadic infections in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and is primarily a threat to poultry.
That status could change, of course.
So we watch these cases around the world with great interest, looking for any signs that the virus is evolving, and that it is moving towards becoming a bigger public health threat.
