Phnom Penh - A 35-year-old man died of bird flu
in Cambodia Tuesday, a record eighth human fatality in one year in the
country, authorities said.
Sok Touch, director of the communicable disease control department at
the Ministry of Health, said he was concerned at the rising number of
cases but noted that they did not seem to be connected.
"We don’t have any link between these cases," he said.
"This year is unusual. We need to prevent the spread of the disease and
stress to people the importance of hygiene and other measures." All
human cases of H5N1 have been infected by contact with poultry, but
health professionals fear the virus could combine with another or mutate
and gain the ability to pass between people.
Cambodian authorities have culled thousands of ducks and chickens in several provinces this year.
Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan, a spokesman for the World Health Organization,
said health workers had enhanced surveillance for bird flu in all
provinces where the disease had been detected.
The WHO said in mid-February that China and Egypt were the only other
countries to have reported human cases of bird flu this year, with a
total of three infections and one death between them.//DPA
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