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MANILA, Philippines – An unknown respiratory disease has killed 61 children in Cambodia, and the World Health Organization is alerting the Philippines and neighboring countries about it.
In a statement on Thursday, July 5, WHO said the disease has “neurological symptoms.” The Cambodia Ministry of Health (MoH) was first alerted about this by the Khanta Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh.
The disease begins with high fever, followed by respiratory and/or neurological symptoms with a rapid deterioration of respiratory functions. Majority of the cases came from the southern part of Cambodia and no apparent clustering of cases have been observed so far.
“WHO is closely monitoring the situation and is providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health on field epidemiology, clinical management and active case finding,” said Dr Nima Asgari, Team Leader of the WHO Country Office in Cambodia.
Cambodian Health Minister Man Bung Heng said the agencies “are currently investigating the cases and possible causes of the disease are being considered but definite identification of the cause and source may take some time.”
Sixty-one of the 62 children admitted in Cambodian hospitals have died from the disease.
Deadly diseases
Asia is no stranger to deadly respiratory diseases. Among them were the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that spead in 2003 and the H1N1 Influenza or Swine Flu in 2009.
SARS, first spotted in Asia in February 2003, spread to more than two dozen countries in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Europe until it was contained. The total number of cases worldwide hit 8,098.
Three years ago, the WHO declared a swine flu pandemic – the first in 41 years – when the H1N1 virus started spreading from “person-to-person in a sustained manner in at least two regions.”
WHO reported that swine flu “started in North America, but cases have been mounting in Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and Chile.” Further spread was deemed inevitable.
At the time of the pandemic declaration in 2009, cases had already reached 27,737 including 141 deaths. – Rappler.com
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