16-year-old girl is Egypt's third bird-flu death

A 16-year-old girl died today of bird flu, the third human death from the virus since it appeared in Egypt last month, officials said.

Iman Mohammed Abdel Gawad died at Eshmon Hospital, where she had been admitted yesterday, said MENA, Egypt’s official news agency.

It quoted state information service officials as announcing the death.

Eshmon is in Menoufia, about 40 miles north of Cairo.

Abdel Gawad had been raising poultry at her home and sought medical attention for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus when she was in a serious condition, the officials said.

Egypt has confirmed nine human cases of the deadly strain since early March.

Two of the people, both women in their 30s, died. Two others have recovered and the rest are still receiving treatment. Egypt discovered its first bird-flu case in birds in February.

The ministerial committee in charge of combating the spread of the flu, headed by Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly, said in a statement yesterday that 14 new cases in birds had been detected in six provinces and that all the birds involved there had been culled.

It also said 113 people had been examined and proved negative for the virus. In all, bird flu virus has been detected in 19 of Egypt’s 26 provinces, the statement said.

Egypt is on a main route for migratory birds, at the crossroads between Asia and Africa.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu, its most aggressive form, has killed 108 people worldwide and led to the culling of millions of birds, the World Health Organisation reported on its website this week.