Girl, 11, dies from bird flu in Cambodia amid fears virus could soon jump from mammals to humans

Some scientists fear the virus could start jumping from mammals to humans, with one Australian infectious diseases expert saying: “We need to be concerned.”

An 11-year-old girl in Cambodia has died from bird flu, the country’s first fatality from the virus in years, health authorities said.

The World Health Organization has called for vigilance after the recent detection of bird flu in mammals, but has stressed that the risk to humans is low.

But some scientists fear the virus could eventually start jumping from mammals to humans, with Australian infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon saying: “We need to be concerned.”

The girl fell ill on February 16 with a fever, cough and sore throat, and later died in hospital, Cambodia’s Communicable Disease Control Department said.

An 11-year-old girl has died of bird flu in Cambodia

It did not specify the time of death, but said that test results delivered on Wednesday confirmed that the girl - who was from eastern Prey Veng province - was “positive for H5N1”, referring to the bird flu virus.

The disease typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact. Officials were waiting for test results from several dead birds found near the girl’s village, Cambodia’s health ministry said.

In a statement, health minister Mam Bunheng urged parents to keep their children away from poultry as well as sick or dead birds.

The case is the 57th recorded instance of bird flu since the virus hit Cambodia two decades ago.

Since late 2021, Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks.

This has led to the culling of tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain.

Bird flu is spreading among poultry around the world. (Photo by Brandon Bell / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The recent detection of the disease in a number of mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked concern that humans could be more at risk.

“The recent spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this month, stressing that “for the moment, WHO assesses the risk to humans as low”.

Globally, there have been more than 450 fatal bird flu cases since 2003, according to the WHO.

The situation has pushed the European Union and the Biden administration in the US to consider implementing avian vaccines.

Until recently, many countries, including Australia, have been hesitant to vaccinate poultry over fears it could affect trade. But the tide is turning.

“We encourage countries currently experiencing significant losses of poultry due to HPAI outbreaks to take up vaccination,” the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said.

While routine vaccination for bird flu is currently banned in Australia, that could shift in the future.

Snow geese in the US have been hit by bird flu. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

“If Australia were also suffering or facing such losses, we would be encouraging our own industry to adopt vaccination,” the spokesperson said.

As the world struggles to contain the spread of the virus, many are looking to scientists and experts to find a solution before it reaches catastrophic levels.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Australian National University infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon confirmed the seriousness of the escalating situation.

“I think we need to be concerned and monitor what’s going on,” he told the publication.

“I don’t think we need to have a view that the world will end tomorrow because this is going to be worse than Covid-19.”

So far, a great deal of attention has been on the economic ways the outbreak will impact humans, with experts warning it could disrupt supplies of eggs and chicken meat, and potentially other meats too, especially bacon and pork products.

The price of eggs has already skyrocketed to record levels in some nations after H5N1 began circulating again late last year.

There is also growing speculation it could potentially impact human health, given the virus has already been transmitted from birds to mammals.

“Experimental and field evidence have demonstrated that minks are susceptible and permissive to both avian and human influenza A viruses (and) could serve as a potential mixing vessel for the interspecies transmission among birds, mammals and humans,” a paper published in Eurosurveillance in January read.