#18,777
A week ago, we learned of a 41 year-old woman in critical condition with H5N1 from a small village in Siem Reap Province in Northern Cambodia. There were reportedly sick and dying chickens in her village.
Two days ago, Cambodia Reported 2 More Human H5N1 Cases; both next door neighbors of the index case.
This morning the Cambodian MOH is reporting a 4th case - also in Siem Reap Province - but this time about 3 km distant from the previous 3 cases. Once again, this patient reportedly had contact with sick or dead chickens.
Since the MOH lists this as the 11th case of 2025, there appears to be at least one case we are missing. Earlier this month details on a case from last May were belatedly released, and so it is possible that information on this case is still in the pipeline.
I've posted the screenshot from the Cambodia MOH Facebook page, followed by a translation. I'll have more after the break.
Kingdom of Cambodia
Nation Religion King
Ministry of Health
Press Release
Bird flu case in 36-year-old woman
The Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Cambodia would like to inform the public: There is another case of bird flu in a 36-year-old woman who was confirmed positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus by the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia on June 30, 2025. The patient lives in Daun Keo village, Daun Keo commune, Puok district, Siem Reap province and has symptoms of fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
This is the 11th case for 2025 in the Kingdom of Cambodia and the 4th case in Siem Reap province (living in a different village, approximately three kilometers away from the previous 3 cases of bird flu). The patient is currently under intensive medical care. Investigations revealed that the patient had a sick and dead chicken at home, which the patient had handled and touched directly, and then buried it.
The emergency response teams of the national and sub-national ministries of health have been collaborating with the provincial agriculture departments and local authorities at all levels to actively investigate the outbreak of bird flu and respond according to technical methods and protocols, find sources of transmission in both animals and humans, and search for suspected cases and contacts to prevent further transmission in the community. They have also distributed Tamiflu to close contacts and conducted health education campaigns among residents in the affected villages.
The Ministry of Health would like to remind all citizens to always pay attention to and be vigilant about bird flu because H5N1 bird flu continues to threaten the health of our citizens. We would also like to inform you that if you have a fever, cough, sputum discharge, or difficulty breathing and have a history of contact with sick or dead chickens or ducks within 14 days before the start of the symptoms, do not go to gatherings or crowded places and seek consultation and treatment at the nearest health center or hospital immediately. Avoid delaying this, which puts you at high risk of eventual death.
How it is transmitted: H5N1 bird flu is a type of flu that is usually spread from sick birds to other birds, but it can sometimes be spread from birds to humans through close contact with sick or dead birds. Bird flu in humans is a serious illness that requires prompt hospital treatment. Although it is not easily transmitted from person to person, if it mutates, it can be contagious, just like seasonal flu.
How to prevent:
- Do not touch or eat sick or dead chickens and ducks. Wear gloves and a mask or cover your nose with a scarf before handling chickens for food. Then blanch them in boiling water before plucking their feathers.
- Adhere to hygiene practices, wash hands frequently before handling food, especially after touching animals, cleaning poultry feathers, or other objects that may be sources of contamination.
- Cook food thoroughly before eating, especially meat, poultry, and eggs. Do not eat raw or undercooked eggs, and keep raw and cooked foods separate. Clean cooking utensils properly.
- If there are many sick or dead chickens at home or in the village and they have symptoms of fever, cough, sputum discharge, or difficulty breathing, please urgently seek consultation and treatment at the nearest health center or hospital to avoid delay, which puts you at high risk of eventual death.
Therefore, the public is requested to be aware and take care of their health in the above preventive measures. The Ministry of Health will continue to provide information regarding public health issues on the Ministry of Health's official social media channels, as well as the official Facebook page of the Department of Communicable Disease Control and the website www.cdcmoh.gov.kh.
For more information, please contact the Ministry of Health's emergency hotline number 115 toll-free.
Tuesday, 6th day of the Asah month, year of the Monkey, B.E. 2569, Phnom Penh, July 1, 2025
This cluster - the first extended one we've seen in quite some time - is reminiscent of the type of bird flu activity we commonly saw between 2004-2016, particularly in places like Indonesia, Egypt, and Cambodia; large die offs of poultry, followed by community clusters of illness.
Which may be due - at least, in part - to the fact that these recent Cambodian cases appear to be due to a new reassortment of an older clade of the H5N1 virus (2.3.2.1c), recently renamed 2.3.2.1e.
While summertime outbreaks of avian flu are a bit unusual, the closer one gets to the equator, the more likely influenza is to circulate year-round. Siem Reap Province is only about 13 degrees N. Latitude.
Given the frequent contacts reported with sick or dead poultry, there is no evidence to suggest human-to-human transmission of the virus.
Nevertheless, every human infection is another opportunity for the virus to better adapt to human physiology. So we watch these cases - and clusters - with considerable interest.
Stay tuned.
