The Cambodian Ministry of Health confirmed Friday that a 13-year-old girl from Ponhea Kreak district in Kampong Cham province, which borders Vietnam, died of bird flu on Thursday.

This has been the seventh victim of the epidemic for the kingdom, a joint statement by the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) said, adding that it is the first case of avian influenza detected in Cambodia in 2007.

The girl became ill with a fever and diarrhea on April 2 and was brought to a local hospital the following day, the statement said.

Her condition then became worse, as she developed a cough with shortness of breath, it said, adding that she was referred to Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh on April 4.

The girl died at noon on Thursday and her samples were tested positive for the influenza A/H5N1 virus at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, according to the statement.

The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture is conducting a detailed investigation into poultry in the area around the village where the girl was living. It appears that some chickens had been dying in the village before the girl became ill, it said. The girl was known to have prepared and eaten a sick chicken from near her house, it added.

A team of investigators from the Health Ministry, the WHO and Pasteur Institute have gone to the field to determine whether there are any more cases, the statement said.

At the beginning of this month, WHO just concluded a regional mock exercise to transfer anti-bird flu drugs from the stockpile site in Singapore to Cambodia in order to contain its spread among human beings.

Source: Xinhua