Phnom Penh

The death of birds recently discovered in Tuolporn Taley Boeung Sne protected area in Prey Veng province’s Ba Phnom district was a result of bird flu caused by influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1), officials confirmed. Puth Bo, community chief in the Tuolporn Taley Boeung Sne area, said community members and specialists had collected and destroyed 135 bird carcasses, raising the total to nearly 2,000 since March 17.

The recent death of an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia's Prey Veng province infected with avian influenza has reinvigorated concern over the virus potentially gaining the ability to spread among humans. And while experts maintain the risk of that happening "remains low" at this time, the World Health Organization has said that increasing reports of avian influenza infection in humans are "worrying."

Cambodia has tested at least 12 people for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the health ministry said, after an 11-year-old girl died this week from the virus in the first known transmission to humans in the country in nearly a decade.