PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A 6-year-old girl has become the ninth person in Cambodia to die of bird flu this year.

Cambodia's health ministry said Tuesday there have been 13 confirmed cases of H5N1 avian influenza in the country this year, and 34 since 2005.

The ministry said the girl who died came from a village in southern Kampot province, where she was likely to have been exposed to infected poultry. She was treated for H5N1 but died Friday.

The H5N1 virus normally spreads between sick poultry, but can sometimes spread from poultry to humans.

Statistics released June 4 by the World Health Organization tallied 20 cases of the virus worldwide so far this year, 15 of them fatal.

According to the WHO, bird flu has killed 375 people worldwide since surfacing in 2003.