Egypt reports further Bird Flu death

Egyptian health officials today reported the deaths of two women from bird flu, bringing to 19 the number of fatalities since the lethal H5N1 strain first appeared in the country last year.

The deaths, along with those of two other women just days ago, bring to four the number of women who died from the strain in a single week.

The Health Ministry first reported today the death of Fardous Mahammed Hadad, 36, from Menoufia, 60km north of Cairo.

Ms Hadad, who was said to have contracted the disease from domestic fowl, was admitted to hospital yesterday with breathing difficulties and high fever and later tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the ministry said.

Later, health officials said another women, Hanim Ibrahim Attwa, 44, also died today from bird flu at Al-Abbasiya Hospital in Cairo. Ms Attaw was from the Nile delta province of Dimayt, some 200km north of the Egyptian capital.

The two women who died of the disease last week were identified as Fatima Fathi Mohammed, from the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya, and Ola Youness Mohammed, from the Beni Suef town south of Cairo.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday that two other women in Egypt tested positive for the H5N1 strain. The UN health agency said a 50-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with the disease on December 24 and was in a critical condition. A 22-year-old female chicken seller infected with the same strain was taken to hospital two days later and is recovering in intensive care, it said.

The cases, which were reported by Egypt’s Ministry of Health, bring the total number of H5N1 infections in the country to 43, including the 19 fatalities.

Most of the deaths have been among women or girls whose families raise poultry in backyards and who had daily contact with chickens or turkeys.

Egypt is one of the countries most affected by the H5N1 strain outside Asia, where the bird flu outbreak began. The country lies on a main route for migratory birds, which are believed to have brought the disease.

The H5N1 strain has hit 45 countries and killed nearly 200 people worldwide since 2003. It has resulted in the culling of millions of birds. The virus has infected more than 340 people and killed at least 212 since 2003, mostly in Asia.