Bird flu kills 2 siblings in northeastern Cambodia

A seven-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister from Cambodia's northeastern Kratie Province died from H5N1 human avian influenza on Friday, bring the death number of the cases to three so far this year, a health official confirmed Wednesday. "They died on the same day at Kompong Cham Provincial Referral Hospital, the girl died first," Dr. Sok Touch, director of Communicable Disease Control Department at the Ministry of Health, told Xinhua. The two siblings contracted the virus on Feb. 1 and were taken to the hospital by their parents. "Chickens were found died in their village and they had touched and eaten poultry before getting sick," he said. "The boy victim was tested positive for H5N1 virus, but the girl victim died before she could be tested," he said. However, the two victims had shown similar symptoms. H5N1 influenza is a flu that normally spreads between sick poultry, but it can sometimes spread from poultry to human, according to the World Health Organization. Bird flu was first identified in Cambodia ten years ago. To date, the country has reported 50 human cases of the virus, killing 35 people.