Egyptian 4-year-old tests positive for bird flu
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Sunday March 11, 10:33 PM Reuters
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Egyptian 4-year-old tests positive for bird flu*
By Alaa Shahine
CAIRO (Reuters) - A 4-year-old Egyptian boy has contracted the deadly
bird flu virus, bringing to 24 the number of Egyptians who have tested
positive for the disease, Health Ministry and World Health Organisation
officials said on Sunday.
The ministry said Mohamed Mahmoud Ibrahim from the Nile Delta province
of Dakahlia had fallen ill with the H5N1 virus after coming into contact
with infected poultry.
"He is in a good condition," Amr Kandeel, head of communicable disease
control at the ministry, told Reuters.
Hassan el-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable disease surveillance
for the World Health Organisation, said Ibrahim had started to show
symptoms on Wednesday and was hospitalised a day later with a high
fever. He was receiving the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
"We do not wish illness to anyone but we are happy that people are
reporting symptoms earlier," Bushra said.
Egypt has the largest known bird flu cluster outside Asia, with 13
deaths out of the 24 reported human cases.
Officials have said the high mortality rate is partly because sufferers
failed to report to hospitals fast enough after developing symptoms,
either because they did not suspect bird flu or feared authorities would
confiscate their poultry.
Around five million households in Egypt depend on poultry as a main
source of food and income and the government has said this makes it
unlikely the disease can be eradicated.
Bushra said Ibrahim came into contact with dead poultry in the first
three days of March. The Health Ministry said in a statement his family
was being tested for the deadly virus.
Bird flu initially caused panic across Egypt and did extensive damage to
the poultry industry. The government has said poultry production has
recovered to 2 million birds a day, the same level as before the outbreak.
(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston)