Experts say bird flu threat small despite Cambodian fatality

By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A top World Health Organization official calls the recent global spread of bird flu and human infections worrying. Dr. Sylvie Briand spoke Friday after health authorities in Cambodia said the father of an 11-year-old girl who died this week after contracting bird flu has also tested positive for the virus. The girl, from a village in southeastern Cambodia, died Wednesday shortly after tests confirmed she had bird flu. Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, normally spreads between sick poultry but can sometimes spread from poultry to humans. The recent detection of infections in a variety of mammals has raised concern that the virus could evolve to spread more easily between people, but they say the risks are currently small.