PHNOM
PENH, CAMBODIA - A six-year-old girl died from bird flu in central Cambodia late last
week, the country's health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO)
confirmed on Monday. It is the second bird flu death in the country so far this
year.
The
Cambodian Health Ministry said 6-year-old Noy Makara of the Kampong Tralach
district in Kampong Chhnang province had fallen ill on March 22 after eating
the meat of a sick chicken. Her family initially attempted to treat her with
medicine and injections, but the girl's condition continued to worsen.
"She
did not get better and her family sent her for treatment at the Kuntha Bopha
hospital on March 28," Morm Malay, deputy director of the provincial
health department, told the Phnom Penh Post. He said the victim died on Friday,
and hospital tests confirmed she had contracted the H5N1 strain of avian
influenza.
Friday's
bird flu fatality is the second in Cambodia so far this year, following the
death of a 2-year-old boy in northwestern Banteay Meanchey province in early
January. The latest death is the first ever confirmed case of H5N1 influenza in
Kampong Chhnang province.
Since
2003, the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed or forced the culling of more than 400
million domestic poultry and caused an estimated USD 20 billion of economic
damage across the globe before it was eliminated from most of the 63 infected
countries.
According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), the bird flu virus has infected 595
people since it first appeared, killing 351 of them. Most cases and deaths were
recorded in Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and China. Cambodia registered a total of
eight fatal cases of human infection in 2011. (BNO News)
newkerala.com
No comments:
Post a Comment