Second human bird flu in Egypt

EGYPT reported its second human case of avian flu yesterday while Israel continued its precautionary culling of hundreds of thousands of birds.

Neighbouring Jordan, which is so far free of the deadly H5N1 strain, responded to the developments by stepping up measures against the virus.

A 30-year-old Egyptian man, who worked on a chicken farm in the province of Qalyoubiya, was the second human infected by the virus in Egypt, the Health Ministry said.

The man was recovering in hospital after being admitted on Thursday with a fever.

Police identified the man as Mohammed Bahaaeddin Abdel-Menem from the village of Noqbas. Villagers were uneasy after the announcement.

Ibrahim al-Gazzar, a cousin of the latest victim, said he doubted that other villagers were educated enough to seek medical treatment.

“They would think it was a normal flu - that will be a disaster,” he said.

The country’s first known human case, a woman who died on Friday, was from the same province, north of Cairo.

The two victims had not had any contact and were from different villages.

The Egypt-based US Naval Medical Research was conducting additional tests to confirm whether the case was H5N1, the Health Ministry said.

Israeli veterinary officials proceeded with the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of birds as new tests came close to confirming Israel’s first outbreak of the deadly bird flu.

The alert was raised on Wednesday when thousands of turkeys started dying.