Egypt detects new human H5N1 bird flu case
Pastor Dale Morgan
Egypt detects new human H5N1 bird flu case*
By Aziz El-Kaissouni
Reuters
Tuesday, October 10, 2006; 7:24 PM
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has detected its first human case of the highly
pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus since May in an Egyptian woman who raised
ducks from her home, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.
Hassan el-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable diseases
surveillance at the World Health Organization, said the woman had tested
positive for the avian influenza virus in tests carried out by Egyptian
health authorities.
The new infection brings the number of human cases in Egypt to 15, of
whom six have died. All the previous infections were detected between
March and May after the virus first surfaced in Egyptian poultry in
February.
The woman, 39-year-old Hanan Aboul Magd of the Nile Delta province of
Gharbiya, has been in hospital since October 4 and has been treated with
the drug Tamiflu, state news agency MENA said.
The woman was on a respirator but her condition was stable, MENA said.
Her family was being tested for the virus.
Egypt has had the largest cluster of human bird flu cases outside of
Asia, and the fresh case came a month after authorities found a cluster
of new cases in birds following a two-month lull in detected poultry cases.
"BACKYARD" BIRDS
The initial bird flu outbreak caused panic in Egypt, where poultry is a
major source of protein and where poor families frequently breed chicken
domestically in cities and rural areas to supplement their diet and income.
MENA reported that the newly infected woman had raised a flock of 11
ducks from her home north of the Egyptian capital. Two became sick and
died, and she then slaughtered the rest before she was hospitalized.
Most of the people infected with bird flu in Egypt became ill after
coming into contact with so-called "backyard" birds, officials say.
Egypt has culled 30 million birds since February to contain the virus.
Chickens on rooftops may be particularly susceptible to catching the
virus from infected migrant birds, which fly along the densely populated
Nile valley during migration, experts have suggested.
Bushra had earlier said that the fresh cases of bird flu in Egyptian
poultry showed that there was still a risk for human cases, but a large
outbreak was less likely to take hold or spread so long as Egypt
continued to vaccinate poultry.
The vast majority of Egyptian commercial poultry flocks have been
vaccinated, while about 20 percent of domestic birds had received
vaccines, officials say.
Two separate officials said the onset of warm weather, combined with
Egyptian government measures, may have helped keep the virus at bay
during the summer months.
But an official from the Food and Agriculture Organization has said that
the onset of cooler weather could still cause a flare-up of cases in
poultry, and has urged increased surveillance accompanied by a fair
compensation scheme.