The emergence of mutant bird flu virus in Cambodia

A strain of mutated bird flu has just been found on specimens in Cambodia, but it is not known if the strain is more toxic than the H5N1 virus that killed four people here.

Head of the Department of Virus, Cambodia Pasteur Institute, Mr. Philippe Buchy said that the inspection of these samples is still ongoing and "it is not clear whether there is any significant progress in the ability to transmit diseases from human to human, or from bird to human virus ". The leader also added that mutations of the H5 virus strain are quite common, and "they have been reviewed by the World Health Organization's H5 experts, but have not yet seen what they reveal."

Since March until now, Cambodia has no new cases in both humans and poultry. However, the country currently has no means to test and detect new strains of influenza, making it difficult to control the risk of future outbreaks.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is trying to reassure people after discovering the second person died of bird flu. Yesterday, the Ministry of Health announced that the new victim was a 35-year-old farmer named Xu, who died after 11 days of high fever and pneumonia-like symptoms. "Her condition is very bad and all attempts to save are failing. Patients who have been exposed to sick poultry," People's Daily said of the woman in Anhui province, about 100 kilometers away. to the habitat of a 24-year-old pregnant woman who died in early November and was claimed to be China's first bird flu victim.

Yesterday, China had a new outbreak in poultry in Xinjiang region, bringing the total number of outbreaks in the year to 25. "The fear of virus-to-human transmission is growing. every new case in humans or poultry, "wrote China's Daily.

Due to the escalation of bird flu epidemic, China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd is working hard to reach a clinical trial of a newly developed vaccine. However, it may take a year before this "pandemic flu vaccine" completes the second round of clinical trials, and is available at a cheaper price than a regular flu shot.

Asia has yet another new bird flu point, namely Aceh, Indonesia, which has been severely damaged by the tsunami last year . The Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture said the outbreak had occurred three weeks ago. The culprit was the H5N1 virus, which killed hundreds of chickens in three districts of the province. Until now, the number of chickens that died and diseases have been destroyed. Aceh is taking measures to disinfect translation points and urges farmers to "pay more attention" to their poultry numbers.

My Linh (according to AFP, AP)