Viruses in Cambodian bird flu cases identified as endemic clade
Send a link to a friend
[February 27, 2023]
(Reuters) - The viruses that infected two people in Cambodia with
H5N1 avian influenza have been identified as an endemic clade of bird
flu circulating in the country, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) said.
The cases reported last week had raised concerns they were caused by a
new strain of H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b, which emerged in 2020 and has caused
record numbers of deaths among wild birds and domestic poultry in recent
months.
But work so far suggests this is not the case.
Preliminary genetic sequencing carried out in Cambodia led its health
ministry to identify the viruses as H5 clade 2.3.2.1c, which has
circulated in Cambodia among birds and poultry for many years and has
sporadically caused infections in people, the CDC said in a statement on
Saturday.
"Yes, this is an older clade of avian influenza that had been
circulating around the region for a number of years and while it has
caused human infections in the past, it has not been seen to cause
human-to-human transmission. However, that doesn't mean that the threat
is any less," said Erik Karlsson, director of the National Influenza
Center of Cambodia and acting head of virology at the Institut Pasteur
du Cambodge, which sequenced the virus.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/27/images/ads/current/castlemanor_sda_FINANCIAL_2017.png)
He added that the response needed to be coordinated and swift to prevent
any further spread and to limit exposure to any common source.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/022723PIX/health73.jpg)
Dead ducks are hung at a farm in the
outskirts of Phnom Penh December 17, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/27/images/ads/current/llm_lda_ANIMAL_2023.png) An investigation into the source and
to detect any additional cases is ongoing, the CDC said, adding that
so far there had been no indication of person-to-person spread.
Cambodia tested at least 12 people for the H5N1 strain last week,
after an 11-year-old girl died from the virus in the first known
transmission to humans in the country in nearly a decade.
The victim's father, who was part of a group the girl had been in
contact with in a province east of the capital Phnom Penh, tested
positive for the virus but did not exhibit any symptoms, Cambodia's
Health Minister Mam Bunheng had said in a statement on Friday.
Only the girl's case has been sequenced and the father's case is
still being worked on, Karlsson said.
The World Health Organization said it is working with Cambodian
authorities following the cases, describing the situation as
worrying due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; additional reporting by
Jennifer Rigby in London; editing by Barbara Lewis)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |