A two-year-old boy from Kampot province on Tuesday became the seventh person to die from bird flu in the Kingdom this year, and the second victim to hail from the province’s Angkor Chey district.

It is believed that the boy, from Angkor Arum Buol village in Angkor Chey commune, had been sick for at least five days before he was brought to the Kantha Bopha hospital in Phnom Penh on Monday.

Dr Denis Laurent, from Kantha Bopha, said the boy was in an advanced state of the illness when he was hospitalised.

“As for every child, we tried to do the best we could, but unfortunately, we couldn’t save this child,” he said.

A three-year-old girl from a village just two kilometres away in neighbouring Angkor Phnom Touch commune died last Wednesday.

The World Health Organisation and district health officials confirmed that a rapid response team was already investigating in Kampot.

“After last week’s death, we started a communications campaign in the village,” World Health Organisation spokesman Sonny Krishnan said.

“This campaign will be intensified across the district.”  

 There have been eight confirmed cases of human H5N1 in Cambodia this year, with seven deaths. The Ministry of Health is expected to release more details today.

With assistance from Mom Kunthear