Boy, 3, in Hospital After Bird Flu Infection
Chicken are seen on a truck at a market in Phnom Penh on January 25, 2013. Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP
- By Ung Chamroeun
- January 26, 2024 5:10 PM
PHNOM PENH – A three-year-old boy from Prey Veng province is in intensive care after testing positive for the avian influenza virus (H5N1), the first confirmed case in 2024.
The result was confirmed at the National Institute of Public Health and Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, the Ministry of Health said on Jan. 26.
Dead chickens and ducks were found in the village and around his house in Ta Broy village, the ministry said.
H5N1 bird flu was reported in Cambodia in 2005.
Four H5N1 bird flu cases were reported last year. The first report dated back in February when an 11-year-old girl died in Prey Veng province. The second was the girl’s father.
In October, the third case was a two-year-old girl, also from Prey Veng province. On Nov. 23, a 21-year-old woman in Kampot province tested positive.
The ministries of Tourism, Health and of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries along with local authorities and partner organizations are working together to investigate the outbreak and to distribute Tamiflu to those who have been in physical contact with the patients.
“If you have a fever, cough, runny nose, breathing difficulty or have physical contact with sick or dead animals within 14 days, you should keep away from the crowded places and are required to seek consultation and treatment at the nearest health center as soon as possible,” the Health Ministry said.
H5N1 influenza mostly spreads among poultry but can also occasionally spread to humans.
Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Rin Ousa for Cambodianess.
