The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Kingdom of Cambodia has announced a confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.

The case was a 6 year old female from Taing Thleung Village, Mepring Commune, Cheung Prey District, Kampong Cham Province.

She developed symptoms on 7 August, was initially treated by local practitioners with no effect and was later admitted to Kantha Bopha Children Hospital in Phnom Penh on 12 August. She died on 14 August, two days after admission.

There have been reports of poultry die off in her village and the case is reported to have had exposure to sick poultry. The female is the eighteenth person in Cambodia to become infected with the H5N1 virus and the sixteenth to die from complications of the disease. All eight cases of H5N1 infections in humans in Cambodia this year have been fatal.

The National and local Rapid Response Teams (RRT) are conducting outbreak investigation and response following the national protocol. Health education messages are ongoing in the community. To date none of the human contacts have tested positive for A (H5N1).