July 8, 2012
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Health workers are trying to determine
whether a mixture of known diseases or something new is responsible for
killing more than 60 children in Cambodia over the past three months, a
World Health Organization (WHO) expert said.
The mystery disease has killed 61 of 62 children hospitalised since
April, but there's no indication it is spreading from person to person.
Patients suffer a high fever, followed by severe respiratory problems
that progress quickly. Some also experience neurological symptoms.
''At this stage, we cannot rule out if this is a mixture of a number of
known diseases (virological, bacterial or toxicological) which have
been reported as one syndrome or something new,'' Dr Nima Asgari of the
WHO in Phnom Penh said in an email Thursday.
The patients reported were under seven years old and spread across
several provinces in southern and central Cambodia. However, work is
being done to determine whether other age groups may also be affected,
he said.
Health Ministry officials alerted WHO on July 1 after learning about
the cases from a doctor at Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital in the
capital. Many patients first visited local health facilities before
coming to the city, and investigators are now trying to piece together
those reports to determine more about their conditions and what
treatments were given, Asgari said.
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