H5N1 kills Egyptian teen
2006-12-25 21:15
Cairo - A 15-year-old girl died on Monday from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the second such death in as many days in Egypt, the health ministry in Cairo said.
Her death brought to nine the number of people who have died in Egypt after contracting the deadly strain - the previous victim being a 30-year-old woman from a village in the central Nile delta region who died on Sunday.
H5N1 was first diagnosed in birds in Egypt in February, and the first case in humans was announced on March 18.
In its most aggressive form, it has killed more than 150 people worldwide, the World Health Organisation has said.
In a statement carried by the Egyptian news agency MENA, the health ministry said the teenager - whose identity was not disclosed - died in a Cairo hospital.
She had previously been admitted to another hospital, in the Garbiya governorate in the Nile delta, on December 20.
Duck farm
The older woman who died on Saturday came from a village in the central Nile delta region, and had been hospitalised earlier this month along with two other family members, a WHO official in Cairo said on Saturday.
Quoting the health ministry, MENA said that the woman, along with two others who had fallen ill - including at least one relative - had likely contracted the virus from infected birds on her family's duck farm.
All the birds in the house and in neighbouring homes were slaughtered and the area disinfected, the news agency said.
Egypt - the Arab world's most populous state - lies along a major route for migratory birds.
Worldwide, it has seen the third highest number of H5N1 cases after Indonesia and China, according to WHO data.