#262
In the space of a little less than 48 hours we've learned of 2 deaths from Avian Influenza among members of an extended family outside of Cairo, Egypt. The reporting on this has been confusing from the start. At first there were two victims, a 25 year old male, and his 15 year old cousin, with varying reports of the cousin's gender. Then we learn of a 30 year old female victim.
As reported by the BBC yesterday morning:
The 30-year-old woman, who also developed symptoms, is recovering well in a Cairo hospital, said Hassan el-Bushra, a WHO regional adviser.
A few hours later it was reported this patient had died.
Today, we learn that the 15 year old female has died, as reported in this Reuters report this morning.
Egyptian girl dies of bird flu - MENA
CAIRO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - A 15-year-old Egyptian girl died of bird flu on Monday, the Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement.
The girl was admitted to a hospital on Dec. 20 after being diagnosed with the disease, the official Middle East News Agency quoted an Egyptian Health Ministry statement as saying.
Her death brings the number of total human deaths from H5N1 in Egypt to nine, and the number of remaining human cases to 17 since the virus first surfaced in Egyptian poultry in February.
An Egyptian woman died of bird flu on Sunday, hours after tests confirmed she and two other members of her extended family had been suffering from the highly pathogenic virus, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said.
A regional WHO official said the 15-year-old was from that family.
"She is from the same family, yes, she was given tamiflu but this didn't work out," said WHO regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance Hassan el-Bushra.
So far, there is no word on the condition of the surviving patient. Nor are there any details as to health of the remaining (reportedly) 30 members of this household except to say that surveillance is being undertaken. Presumably Tamiflu has been dispensed to the family, although I haven't seen that announced.
It is too soon to determine if this is a H2H (Human to Human) cluster, or all three victims contracted the virus from contact with infected birds. The family apparently raises ducks, and belatedly reported that some had died.
Given extended incubation period we've seen with the H5N1 virus, we won't know if additional cases are going to spring forth from this cluster for another week or so.
