Two Cambodians have died from bird flu contracted
while preparing infected chicken, the World Health Organization said
today.
Tests on the victims, a 15-year-old girl and a 35-year-old man who died
earlier this week, confirmed they had contracted the H5N1 strain of
avian influenza, the WHO said in a joint statement with the Cambodian
health ministry, AFP reports.
An eight-month-old boy admitted to hospital in Phnom Penh on January 9
was also infected with H5N1 but later recovered, the statement said.
There was evidence of infections among poultry in the villages of the
two who died and the “pair had prepared sick chicken for food,’’ the
statement said.
Cambodia has recorded 24 cases of H5N1 since 2003 with all but three of
the victims dying. The virus has killed 362 people worldwide since a
major outbreak in 2003, according to WHO statistics.
It typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact, but
experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between
humans, with the potential to trigger a pandemic.
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