Cambodia: Avian Influenza detected in humans, first cases since 2014

Avian flu cases in humans have been detected in Cambodia, the first case is an infection with Avian Influenza type […]

Avian flu cases in humans have been detected in Cambodia, the first case is an infection with Avian Influenza type A (H5N1), and the second one is an asymptomatic person who was in contact with the first one. These cases are considered the first human cases reported in the country since 2014.

The Cambodia International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) notified this situation to the World Health Organization (WHO) on February 23. This is about an 11-year-old girl who showed symptoms on previous days and received the treatment on February 16. After that, on February 21, the patient developed severe pneumonia. Therefore, collecting and analyzing samples at the National Institute of Public Health was necessary. It informed a positive result for avian influenza A (H5N1) using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Additionally, the sample was sent to Pasteur Cambodia, the National Influenza Center, where experts confirmed the positive result. Unfortunately, this patient died on February 22, 2023.

After verifying the positive result, Cambodia published the sequence data of the virus. This virus exhibits the H5N1 virus belonging to clade 2.3.2.1c and is similar to the 2.3.2.1c clade viruses circulating in poultry in southeast Asia since 2014.

Another twelve people were in contact with that case. Still, only one tested positive for avian influenza A (H5N1) on February 23, 2023, and the remaining eleven resulted in negative tests either for avian flu and SARS-CoV-2.