WHO Concerned About Bird Flu Outbreak After Girl’s Father Tests Positive

The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern about the outbreak of bird flu after the father of an 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died from the disease tested positive for the virus, raising fears of human-to-human transmission. Since late 2021, one of the worst global avian influenza outbreaks on record has seen tens of millions of poultry culled, mass wild bird die-offs and a rising number of infections among mammals. In Cambodia, the girl fell ill on February 16 with a fever, cough and sore throat, and died on Wednesday from the H5N1 bird flu virus. Authorities collected samples from 12 people who had been in contact with her and her father tested positive. Though the risk of bird flu to humans is low, the WHO is waiting on information from Cambodia to see if this assessment needs to be updated. So far, cases of bird flu in humans had been “sporadic”, but if bird flu transmission is confirmed to have taken place between humans, WHO said a series of measures can be put in place, such as vaccines.