Thursday, 25 June 2009

Cambodia confirms first case of new flu

PHNOM PENH, June 24 (Reuters) - Cambodia and the World Health Organization said on Wednesday an American girl, who was visiting Cambodia as part of a student group, has been confirmed as having the influenza A(H1N1) virus.

The 16-year-old developed symptoms after arriving in Phnom Penh on Friday and sought medical care at a private clinic on Monday, a joint statement said.

The clinic was concerned the patient may have been infected by Influenza A based on her travel history and clinical presentation and put her in isolation to conduct tests, it said.

"With the virus now circulating globally, its eventual arrival in Cambodia was expected. We are pleased that the systems we have put in place have worked in identifying and isolating the case," Cambodia's Health Minister Mam Bun Heng said in the statement.

The girl is recovering without complications and the other members of her group were under voluntary observation, the statement said.

FIRST CASE IN INDONESIA

Indonesia on Wednesday also confirmed the country's first cases of the H1N1 virus after an Indonesian pilot in Jakarta and a British woman in the resort island of Bali tested positive for the virus. [ID:nJAK466174]

The 22-year-old British woman had been living in Australia, while the pilot, 37, had travelled to Australia and Hong Kong, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said.

The minister also said she was concerned that if H1N1 got a foothold in Indonesia there was a risk it could combine with the much deadlier H5N1 bird flu virus.

Indonesia has the highest death toll from bird flu of any country, with the country's bird flu commission confirming 119 deaths from the disease.

The H1N1 virus has spread around the globe and the World Health Organisation has declared an influenza pandemic and advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against H1N1.

There have been more than 50,000 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus and at least 237 people have died. (Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

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