CAIRO - A 30-year-old Egyptian woman has died of bird flu, the
country's first human victim of the virus, Egypt's health ministry said on
Saturday.
It said the woman from Qaloubiyah province, about 40 kms (25 miles) north of
Cairo, where the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain has been detected in poultry, was
taken ill on Wednesday.
"They (doctors) took samples for analysis at the ministry of health
laboratories ... They confirmed she was infected with bird flu. She died on
Friday morning," a health ministry statement said, adding the woman had been
given Tamiflu, a drug used to treat suspected cases of bird flu.
Israel said on Saturday that four poultry workers suspected of having bird
flu had tested negative for the virus, after the country detected its first
cases of H5N1 in birds on Friday.
Bird flu has spread across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and killed at
least 98 people worldwide since 2003.
Although hard to catch, people can contract bird flu after coming into
contact with infected birds. Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form
that could pass easily between humans, triggering a pandemic in which millions
could die.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed that Egypt had reported its
first human case of bird flu.
Dr Hassan al-Bushra, WHO's regional adviser for communicable diseases
surveillance, said the H5N1 bird flu virus had been found in a blood sample
taken from the woman, and that other samples were being tested for further
confirmation.
Egypt reported its first cases of bird flu in poultry flocks last month.
Media and state reports say H5N1 has now been detected in at least 17 of Egypt's
26 governorates and the city of Luxor.
Egyptian farmers say the poultry market -- worth about 17 billion Egyptian
pounds ($3 billion dollars) and supporting up to 3 million people -- has been
devastated.