A 10-year-old boy from Kampot province died of bird flu on Saturday bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 13 this year, with 24 confirmed cases overall, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cambodia has been the worst hit country by the H5N1 virus in the world this year.
“We regret to announce that the 10-year-old boy passed away in Kantha Bopha Hospital this morning at 5:30 a.m.,” the WHO’s communications officer Sonny Krishnan said in an email on Saturday.
On Friday, the WHO had confirmed the child was infected with H5N1 and was receiving treatment at Phnom Penh’s Kantha Bopha Hospital after being transferred from a clinic in Dang Tong district’s Totong commune. They described his condition as critical at the time.
Pith Cheul, 50, the boy’s father, on Sunday accused the first clinic he took his son to of misdiagnosing the boy.
“I am blaming the local health center for my child’s death because they told me my child had typhoid and gave him the wrong prescription,” he said.
The latest death comes less than a week after a 2-year-old girl from Pursat died from avian flu.
Ly Sovann, deputy director of the Ministry of Health’s department of communicable disease control, said that survival is dependent on how quickly the symptoms are identified.
“We have the medicine to treat patients, but they need to rush immediately if the child develops a fever especially if in contact with poultry,” he said. The antiviral drug Tamiflu is used to treat patients with H5N1.
Experts have blamed factors including the transportation of sick poultry and a lack of compensation for farmers whose infected fowl need to be culled for the spread of the virus.
Vietnam has recorded only two cases of bird flu this year, while Thailand has experienced none. Aside from Cambodia’s fatalities, there have been nine deaths worldwide this year.
