H1N1 Claims First Cambodian Life

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

28 September 2009

(Post in CAAI News Media)

The H1N1 flu has killed its first victim in Cambodia, a 40-year-old woman, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Monday.

The virus has infected 88 people in the country so far, and the death has put health officials on alert.

“This is the first case,” Hun Sen said, at the inauguration of a new Ministry of Tourism building. “She had been sick for a long time. She had lung problems.”

The woman had been ill since Sept. 18, traveling to a clinic two days later, before she was taken to Phnom Penh’s Pasteur Institute for testing. Her condition worsened, and she was taken to Calmette hospital on Sunday afternoon, where she died.

Cambodia saw its first cases of the H1N1 flu, sometimes called swine flu, in June, first in traveling US students. The World Health Organization estimates more then 300,000 cases of the flu have been confirmed globally, with more than 3,900 dying.