# 362
This statement, reported by the Kuwait News Agency, comes from the Egyptian Ministry of Health.
No human-to-human bird flu in Egypt -- spokesmanCAIRO, Jan 27 (KUNA) -- The recent change in the bird flu virus in Egypt did not involve change into human-to-human infection mode, an official spokesman said here Saturday.
Spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Health Abdul-Rahman Shahin said in remarks to be published by Egypt's October weekly, Sunday issue, that the recent alteration in the avian flu virus was an expected thing as "it often occurs in the world of viruses", noting that the virus resisted the Tamiflu bird flu drug to take the death rate to 100 percent in lieu of 50 percent.
The official further stressed there is no room for keeping people in the dark on this matter, which concerns the entire world as epidemics do not stop at boundaries or borders. He pointed out there is current research and follow-up to monitor potential virus mutations, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Navy's Medical Research Unit No. 3 (NAMRU-3).
This statement is, unfortunately, long on reassurances and short on details. No mention is made of the dozens of `suspected' bird flu patients in hospitals in Egypt, as reported by the Arab press.
As with Indonesia, most of these suspected cases are probably something other than bird flu. The problem in Egypt is, we rarely hear about their testing results. The newshounds on the wiki keep track of such things, and their latest tally for 2007 shows 63 people reported as showing symptoms, with no results announced.
