When an 11-year-old girl died last week from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, Cambodia’s health ministry examined at least 12 people.
On Friday, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said the victim’s father, who was part of a group the daughter had been in touch with in a province east of Phnom Penh, tested positive for the virus but had no symptoms.
The statement did not reveal the group’s test findings or how the victim’s father caught avian flu.
On Thursday, Bunheng claimed the girl’s case was Southeast Asia’s first H5N1 illness since 2014.
The statement claimed the Prey Veng girl’s high temperature and cough on Feb. 16 confirmed avian flu.
The health ministry said she was taken to Phnom Penh’s National Children’s Hospital as her condition worsened, but she died on Wednesday.
The International Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) informed Reuters that avian flu had killed over 200 million birds on farms worldwide since early last year.
H5N1 influenza expanded to animals this month, although the WHO claimed humans were at little risk.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing that recent mink, otter, and seal illnesses “need to be followed attentively” after 25 years of H5N1 transmission among poultry and wild birds.
Cambodian health authorities advised against handling dead or ill animals and birds and against calling a hotline if they suspected infection.
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