A 12-year-old boy from Cambodia' s southeastern province of Prey Veng died
of bird flu Wednesday, an official said.
The boy was admitted to a hospital in Phnom Penh on Tuesday with fever and
respiratory symptom and died on Wednesday morning, said Ly Sovann, head of the
health ministry's infections disease department.
The test results from the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh showed that the boy
was infected with H5N1 bird flu virus, Ly added.
The boy's death brought total number of bird flu cases in Cambodia to six, or
to two for this year only. A three-year-old girl from Kompong Speu province died
of bird flu last month after playing with the sick and dead chickens.
The details on how the boy was infected with the deadly virus were not
available now, the investigation is going on.
Cambodian Hun Sen blamed the death of the girl on lack of public information
of the virus, and urged the country's media to increase coverage of bird flu
information in an effort to effectively prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
Most Cambodian people killed by bird flu were from the provinces bordering
Vietnam, which was the hardest hit country in the region.
According to World Health Organization figures, the virus has killed at least
108 people worldwide since late 2003, mostly in Asia. The WHO has warned
countries not to be complacent because the disease is spreading in poultry and
will spread around the globe.