Riad Hijab, Syria’s defected former prime minister, speaks at a press conference at the Hyatt Hotel in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. Hijab is the highest-ranking political figure to defect from Assad’s regime and in his first public comments since leaving his post and fleeing to Jordan he said Tuesday that the regime was near collapse and urged other political and military leaders to tip the scales and join the rebel side. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon)
Girl is Cambodia's 5th bird flu fatality this year
Published: 01:27:21 PM, Fri 08 February 2013 UTC
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A 5-year-old Cambodian girl has become the country's fifth bird flu fatality this year.
Cambodia's Health Ministry and the World Health Organization announced Friday that the girl had a history of contact with poultry in her village in southeastern Takeo province, where there was evidence of recent deaths among poultry.
Only one of Cambodia's six victims this year of the virus, also called avian influenza, or H5N1, has survived the disease. The country reported three cases in 2012, all fatal.
WHO statistics issued Feb. 1 show Cambodia as the only country so far reporting human cases of the disease in 2013.
The U.N. agency says bird flu has killed 365 other people worldwide since surfacing in 2003. Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected poultry.
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