In all thirteen people have died of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Egypt...

In Egypt the situation regarding the dreaded bird flu virus is not looking good. The Health Ministry of Egypt has just reported that they have come across 2 new human H5N1 cases which means that the total number of Egyptians who have been infected with the virus is now at 31. The two latest cases still need to be confirmed by the World Health Organisation.

Egypt is the country closest to the European Union which has actually suffered from human cases of the bird flu virus and that is why we take a particular interest in any bird flu developments in that country. Egypt has not had nearly as many bird flu cases as some Asian countries but nevertheless the problem is serious and could be extremely dangerous if it got out of hand.

The two new cases involved a girl of six years and a boy of five years who came from the Menia Province both of whom were immediately rushed to hospital. The doctors are now saying that they are both in a stable state and that they have both been administered the bird flu drug Tamiflu. The Egyptian government relies on its Central Public Health Lab as well as the United States Naval Medical Research Unit which is based in the country.  The news reports surrounding these two new cases have all confirmed that the children had been exposed to and had been in very close contact with poultry and that this had been the cause of them contracting the H5N1 virus.

In Egypt the cases of bird flu seem to be in very young children who sometimes play with the chickens on farms and who because of their small size are in closer respiratory contact with the animals. In all thirteen people have died of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Egypt in various parts of the country.