Teenage girl dies of bird flu

Egyptian health officials confirmed on Tuesday that Egypt’s 12th fatal victim of bird flu died on 2 February. The victim was a 17-year-old girl from the rural Fayyoum region, south-west of the capital, Cairo. She is believed to have been infected after coming into contact with sick and dead birds at her home.

“She was infected from birds kept at her home, and died last Friday evening,” said Dr Amr Kandeel, Director of the Egyptian Ministry of Health’s Communicable Diseases Department.

“The area around her home is now subject to an infection control programme,” he added.

Despite a nationwide campaign to persuade Egyptians not to keep birds in or around their homes, the practice is still extant in many areas. The government was expecting to introduce new measures after a meeting of 11 ministers, which was taking place on Tuesday afternoon.

Egypt has been the country worst affected by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza outside Asia, with 20 people infected since spring 2006.

In January of this year, a new strain of the virus was reported in the country that was moderately resistant to Tamiflu, the drug most commonly used to treat bird flu. However, Dr Sayyid al-Abbasi, the health ministry’s media official, told IRIN that Tamiflu will continue to be used to treat bird flu and Egypt will only start using an alternative drug after being given the go-ahead by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Officials from WHO said that it was too early to say if the latest victim had been infected by the new strain, or indeed if she had been treated with Tamiflu at all. She first tested negative for bird flu when she was admitted to hospital in late January.

Fears remain worldwide that the H5N1 strain of the virus could mutate into a form that could pass between humans.

jb/ar/ed

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