Bird flu, a disease spread in birds, has started spreading to humans at an alarming rate, after which the World Health Organization has sounded the alarm.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says increasing human cases of bird flu is a cause for concern, following the death of an 11-year-old girl infected with the virus in Cambodia.
Cambodia’s health ministry said the dead girl’s father had also tested positive for the virus, raising concerns that bird flu could be transmitted from person to person.
Sylvie Briand, director of the WHO’s epidemic and preparedness program, said her organization is in close contact with authorities in Cambodia and that those close to the girl who died have been tested.
At a press conference in Geneva, the WHO director said it was too early to say whether it spread from one person to another or whether all infected people were part of a specific environment where the virus was.
It is rare for the virus to be found in humans, usually people who come into direct contact with infected birds get bird flu.
In late 2021, when the virus spread worldwide and killed tens of millions of chickens, a large number of wild birds died as a result. The virus later spread to other mammals.
The WHO director says the global spread of bird flu is worrying because it is now being found in other animals and humans after birds around the world.
He said that the WHO takes this threat seriously and calls on the governments of all countries in the world to monitor it. He said that the mortality rate of this virus in humans is 50%.