Egyptian girl has bird flu, 27th human case
Pastor Dale Morgan
Egyptian girl has bird flu, 27th human case*
25 Mar 2007 20:35:02 GMT
Source: Reuters
CAIRO, March 25 (Reuters) - A three-year-old Egyptian girl has
contracted bird flu, the 27th case among humans in Egypt, the state news
agency MENA said on Sunday. The girl, Hajer Mohamed Awadallah, was taken
to hospital in the southern town of Aswan on Thursday and has tested
positive for the deadly virus, it said, quoting the Ministry of Health.
Thirteen Egyptians have died from the disease since the first outbreak
in Egypt in February 2006, one of the highest death ratios for any
country in the world. But the last death, of the 21st case, was on Feb. 15.
The girl went to hospital with a high temperature and other symptoms of
bird flu, MENA said. Because she had been in contact with domestic
poultry, she received Tamiflu, the standard treatment for the symptoms
of the disease, it added.
"Her condition is stable and an epidemiological study is under way on
all of her family," it said.
Most of the deaths in Egypt have come about because the patients
concealed their contacts with poultry, leading to delays in the start of
Tamiflu treatment, health officials say.
Out of the 27 cases in Egypt, 13 have died, 12 have recovered completely
and two are under treatment, MENA said.
Two other recent cases have occurred in the province of Aswan but the
health ministry said they were not related.