Dr Erik Karlsson, who led the team at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia that decoded the genetic sequence of the girl's virus, says the discovery "needs to be treated with the utmost concern".
The bird flu virus isolated from a girl who died from the disease had mutations that made it better adapted to human cells, Sky News has learned.
The 11-year-old is believed to have been infected by poultry kept by her family in Prey Veng province, in the south of Cambodia.
Her father also tested positive for the H5N1 virus, but did not develop symptoms.
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