Cambodia has announced its fifteenth human case of avian influenza, otherwise known as bird flu. The steady pace of human infection is increasingly concerning to health authorities in the country.
In a Facebook post, the ministry said the patient is a 6-year-old girl from Takeo province, according to a translation from Avian Flu Diary, an infectious disease news blog. The girl is hospitalized with symptoms that include fever, cough, and breathing difficulty. Cambodia’s National Institute of Public Health confirmed the case yesterday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States says that bird flu symptoms are usually mild. They also unsurprisingly mimic the common cold or the flu. Some of the more common signs and symptoms of bird flu in people may include eye redness and irritation (conjunctivitis), a mild fever (temperature of 100ºF [37.8ºC] or greater), or feeling feverish, a cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, and fatigue.
Erik Karlsson, PhD, with the National Influenza Center and Pasteur Institute in Cambodia, said on X today that 7 of the 15 cases from Cambodia this year have been fatal, resulting in a case-fatality rate (CFR) of 46.6%. He added that since 2005, Cambodia has reported 87 cases, which include 50 deaths for a CFR of 57.5%.
Cambodia has confirmed its 15th human case of #H5N1 in 2025. That brings the year’s total to 15 cases and 7 deaths (CFR: 46.6%). Since 2005: 87 cases, 50 deaths (CFR: 57.5%).#AvianInfluenza #Zoonoses #BirdFlu #Spillover pic.twitter.com/5SU5tMZL58
— Erik Karlsson (@E_A_Karlsson) August 6, 2025
According to the University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy), nearly all of Cambodia’s recent cases have involved contact with sick or dead poultry, and many of the affected patients have had severe or fatal infections. The latest human cases have involved a reassortant (2.3.2.1e) between an older H5N1 clade that has circulated in Cambodia since 2014 and the newer clade 2.3.4.4b virus that is circulating globally. The rise in human cases began at the end of 2023 and has accelerated this summer, with 12 reported over the past 2 months.
In the U.S., mainstream media outlets have taken to asking where the bird flu, which they were panicking the masses with, had gone.
University of Nebraska Asks Where The Bird Flu Went
What do you think? Is this virus all but gone? Will the Cambodia cases spread and reinfect people in other countries with a different and more infectious strain? Where is this going? How bad will it get? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
Read the full article here