INITIAL TESTS ON A 3-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHO DIED AFTER PLAYING WITH SICK FOWL SHOW SHE WAS INFECTED THE DEADLY H5N1 TYPE OF BIRD FLU, SAID OFFICIALS OF THE CAMBODIAN HEALTH MINISTRY AND THE U.N. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. THE GIRL, WHOSE NAME WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE, DIED ON TUESDAY, A FEW DAYS AFTER PLAYING WITH BIRDS IN THE PROVINCE OF KAMPONG SPEU, ABOUT 45 KILOMETERS (28 MILES) WEST OF THE CAPITAL PHNOM PENH, SAID LY SOVANN, CHIEF OF THE DISEASE CONTROL BUREAU OF CAMBODIA'S HEALTH MINISTRY. MEGGE MILLLER, A LOCALLY BASED WHO REPRESENTATIVE, CONFIRMED THAT PRELIMINARY TESTS FOUND THE VIRULENT H5N1 VIRUS IN THE GIRL. IF CONFIRMED BY FURTHER TESTS, THE GIRL WOULD BE CAMBODIA'S FIFTH FATALITY FROM THE DISEASE SINCE 2003, AND THE FIRST THIS YEAR. ACCORDING TO WHO STATISTICS, 103 PEOPLE IN EIGHT COUNTRIES, MOSTLY IN ASIA, HAVE DIED FROM THE VIRUS.
