A 2-year-old girl has become the 12th person to die of avian influenza in Cambodia in 2013, the Cambodian Health Ministry and World Health Organization jointly announced. The girl died on October 26 after contracting H5N1 avian influenza.
According to the two agencies, the girl had been experiencing fever, difficulty breathing and lethargy.
An investigation was conducted in the girl's village in the western province of Pursat, which revealed that poultry had died suddenly at her grandparents' home in September. The girl often stayed with her grandparents, leading authorities to suspect a link between the two cases.
The latest case marks Cambodia's 12th human fatality related to avian influenza and the 23rd human infection. A total of 44 human infections have been confirmed in Cambodia since the avian influenza virus first appeared there in 2003.
