Egypt announced the 19th human bird flu case on Wednesday after
a 27-year-old woman from central Egypt was tested positive to the
deadly H5N1 virus, the official news agency MENA reported.
The woman, identified as Warda Eid Ahmed, came from a small
village in central Egyptian governorate of Beni Sweif, some 120 km
south of Cairo, according to Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman
Abdel-Rahman Shahin.
Shahin said that the infected woman, who was admitted to
hospital on Jan. 13 because of severe pneumonia, is being given the
anti-viral Tamiflu drug doses.
It is Egypt's first human bird flu case in 2007, also the 19th
case since the outbreak of the epidemic.
Egypt found the first bird flu case in dead poultry on Feb. 17,
2006 and then the virus spread to 20 of the country's 26
governorates.
The populous Arab country reported first human bird flu case on
March 18 of 2006. Since then, 10 people have died of the fatal
virus in Egypt.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2007)
