Avian flu claimed an 11-year-old victim in Cambodia. Is the virus, which is spreading at high speed in wild and domestic birds, about to infect humans?
On February 23, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the death of an 11-year-old Cambodian girl from avian flu. She and her father are the first people infected with the H5N1 virus in Cambodia since 2014.
The first cases of bird flu in Cambodia for 10 years
The girl lived in the province of Prey Veng, in the south of Cambodia. Her first symptoms appeared on February 16, 2023. First taken care of in a nearby hospital, she was transferred to the National Pediatric Hospital from Phnom Phnen for severe pneumonia on February 21. She died the following day from the infection. Genetic analyzes confirmed that it was indeed the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 and which belongs to clade 2.3.2.1c, present endemic in Cambodia since at least 2014.
The 12 people with whom the young victim was in contact were tested for the H5N1 virus. Some had symptoms that could be a sign of an infection, but only the asymptomatic father of the child tested positive for the H5N1 virus – he was placed in isolation in hospital. The other 11 people were negative for H5N1 and SARS-CoV-2. These two cases are the first confirmed in Cambodia since 2014. Between 2010 and 2014, the country recorded 47 cases of avian flu, including 30 deaths.
A situation under surveillance
« Since H5N1 first emerged in 1996, we have observed only rare and non-persistent transmissions of the H5N1 virus within and between humans. But we cannot assume this will always be the case and we must be prepared for any change in the status quo. “, writes the WHO in a press release dated February 8, 2023. The vast majority of human cases of avian flu are concentrated in Southeast Asia and Africa: 56 in Cambodia, 200 in Indonesia, 127 in Vietnam and 359 in Egypt between 2003 and 2023. England was also affected in early 2022 The latest WHO global count reports 868 human cases between 2003 and 2023, with 457 deaths, an overall mortality rate of around 52%.
In recent months, concern over the ability of the H5N1 avian virus to infect humans has grown. Indeed, many species of mammals have been infected or killed by the virus: fox, otter, mink or even a colony of fur seals in Peru. In all likelihood, these animals became contaminated by eating or being in contact with sick birds. At this stage, there is no firm confirmation that the H5N1 virus has spread from mammal to mammal. The WHO and health authorities in member countries are monitoring this delicate situation very closely.