Health officials said evidence suggests that two people diagnosed with bird flu, one of them fatal, in Cambodia were not infected through human-to-human transmission, allaying fears that the avian influenza is being spread between humans.
An 11-year-old girl, who died earlier this month, and her father both tested positive for the H5N1 virus and are believed to have been infected by poultry in their village. While the virus appears not to have been spread between the two, an official from the United Nations's health agency said the current bird flu outbreak is "worrying" and urged vigilance from countries.
Bird flu typically spreads among poultry, though a recent outbreak has begun to spill over to mammals, raising concerns the virus could be evolving and pose a greater risk to humans.
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“The global H5N1 situation is worrying given the wide spread of the virus in birds around the world,” said Sylvie Briand, director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the United Nations's health agency. “WHO takes the risk from this virus seriously and urged heightened vigilance in all countries."
Dr. Erik Karlsson, who led a team at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia that decoded the genetic sequence of the girl's virus, said her sample had indications that it may have mutated to adapt to human cells better. Karlsson noted that while the virus appears to be evolving, it has yet to adapt to humans fully.
"Any time these viruses get into a new host, they'll have certain changes that allow them to replicate a little bit better or potentially bind to the cells in our respiratory tract a little bit better," Karlsson told Sky News. "This was a zoonotic spillover and needs to be treated with the utmost concern."
A zoonotic spillover occurs when an infection transfers from wild animals to humans.
While only a few isolated cases of bird flu have been reported in humans so far, the World Health Organization has warned health officials to expect more human cases, as the disease has recently crossed into small mammals, including minks, otters, foxes, and sea lions. The 11-year-old girl was the first person in Cambodia since 2014 known to be infected with bird flu.
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Cases of bird flu have been tracked for decades, though the H5N1 strain spurred a global outbreak beginning in 2020. The outbreak has spread through migratory birds to Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. More than 58 million poultry and 6,000 wild birds in the United States have been infected with bird flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.