Credit WHO WPRO
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Although an official statement has yet to appear on the Cambodian Ministry of Health website, or the United Nations in Cambodia website, it is being widely reported in the media this morning that two more children have been found infected with the H5N1 virus in that country, and one has died.
This comes just 3 days after Cambodia’s last notification (see Cambodia Reports 6th H5N1 Case Of 2014), and if confirmed would raise 2014’s numbers to 8 cases (+ 1 probable) , and 3 deaths.
I’ll update this post with a link to the official statement if and when it becomes available. In the meantime, we have this report from China’s official news agency, Xinhua.
Cambodia reports two new bird flu cases, one dies
English.news.cn 2014-03-10 11:49:46
PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Two more new human cases of avian influenza H5N1 have been confirmed in Cambodia, and one of them, an 11-year-old boy died on Friday in Phnom Penh's Kantha Bopha Children Hospital, a hospital representative confirmed Monday.
"An 11-year-old boy from Kampong Chhnang province was admitted to the hospital last week and tested positive for H5N1 virus, " Dr. Denis Laurent, deputy director of Kantha Bopha Children Hospital, the kingdom's largest pediatric hospital, told Xinhua.
"The boy's condition was very serious when he arrived at our hospital and died on Friday," he said.
Another 8-year-old boy from Kandal province has also suffered from the virus last week, but his condition is stable and he is recovering, he said.
The country recorded 8 cases of avian influenza H5N1 so far this year, and there children died.
H5N1 influenza is a flu that normally spreads between sick poultry, but it can sometimes spread from poultry to humans, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus was first identified in Cambodia ten years ago. To date, the country has reported 55 human cases of the virus, and 36 people died of it.
While the rate of H5N1 cases in Cambodia in 2014 is concerning, they are running roughly at the same pace as we saw in 2013, which by the end of February last year had reported 9 cases. Thus far, nearly all of the cases we’ve seen have been widely scattered, sporadic, and not suggestive of sustained human-to-human transmission.
This assessment from the most recent Influenza At The Human-Animal Interface report (dated Feb 25th) from the World Health Organization.
Overall public health risk assessment for avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses: Whenever influenza viruses are circulating in poultry, sporadic infections or small clusters of human cases are possible, especially in people exposed to infected household poultry or contaminated environments. This influenza A(H5N1) virus does not currently appear to transmit easily among people. As such, the risk of community-level spread of this virus remains low.
Unknown are how many mild, moderate, or even subclinical H5N1 infections that go undetected, as those who are the sickest are most likely to be hospitalized and tested, particularly in countries with low resources.
The size of that undetected cohort remains the subject of considerable debate (see The Great CFR Divide), with very little serological evidence supporting a large number.
For now, H5N1 remains poorly adapted to humans, making it primarily a threat to poultry, and those who are in close contact with poultry, in those regions where the virus is endemic.
