Avian influenza death toll rises
April 22, 2005 (CIDRAP News) - A 20-year-old woman
who died Tuesday in a Vietnamese hospital has been
confirmed as Cambodia's fourth victim of H5N1 avian
influenza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported
today.
Chal Bo Pha had suffered high fever and heavy
coughing for a week before leaving her home in
Kampot Province to go to a hospital across the
border in Tien Giang, Vietnam, AFP reported. She died
there within hours.
Tests at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City
confirmed that the woman died of H5N1, the hospital
director, Nguyen Van Dom, told AFP. Cambodian and
World Health Organization (WHO) officials quoted in
the story had not yet been notified that the case
was confirmed.
The case brings the unofficial H5N1 case count to 90
cases, including 53 deaths, since January 2004.
It also indicates that Cambodia may continue to see
cases, Dr. Peter Horby, WHO epidemiologist in Hanoi,
told AFP.
"If the results are confirmed, it does demonstrate
that in that part of Cambodia the situation is not so
different from Vietnam for avian influenza and we'll
continue to see human cases," Horby said.
The woman lived in an area where many poultry had
died of an unknown illness, relatives reportedly told
the doctor quoted by AFP. She had eaten chicken
before falling ill.
Health officials in Cambodia are continuing education
efforts, particularly in Kampot Province, where all four
known H5N1 victims lived.
Megge Miller, a WHO official in Cambodia, told AFP
that officials in two areas of Kampot are teaching
health center staff and local health volunteers how
to identify avian flu. She said workers are being
instructed to notify the provincial health department
if they see someone who has a fever, cough, and
difficult breathing after having contact with poultry
that recently died.
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