# 346
Generally, we hear little out of Egypt unless they report a new fatality from the H5N1 virus. To date, they’ve reported 19 confirmed cases, with 11 deaths. This from the Gulf Times:
Egypt alert as bird flu threat grows
CAIRO: Egypt is on high alert after the H5N1 strain of the avian flu became more resistant to the Tamiflu antiviral drug predominantly used to combat the disease, the health minister was quoted as saying yesterday.
"The health ministry remains in a state of maximum alert and is reviewing its strategy in combating avian flu following the mutation of the H5N1 virus," Hatem al-Gabali told the top-selling state-owned Al-Ahram daily.
The World Health Organisation announced last week that a mutated strain of the virus with "reduced susceptibility" to Tamiflu had been discovered in two people infected with bird flu in northern Egypt.
The two Egyptians were from the same household and died in late December.
A total of 11 people have died of the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza since the virus was first detected in Egypt almost a year ago, making it the world’s worst hit non-Asian country.
The Egyptian government has launched a broad awareness campaign in a bid to curb the occurrence of infections caused by domestic poultry rearing.
But in recent weeks, none of the infected humans has survived despite being treated with Tamiflu, while the mortality rate hovered around 50% in the first half of 2006.
The virus detected in the two patients in Egypt was resistant to Tamiflu but susceptible to other antiviral drugs, in a development which could prompt health services to treat patients with a cocktail of drugs.
Flying under the radar of western news agencies is the fact that suspected H5N1 patients are being treated in hospitals in Egypt. The exact number is difficult to ascertain, as we only get snippets of information in the Arab press, and rarely do these make the English language newspapers.
Theresa42, over at Flutrackers, keeps close track of the goings on in the mid-east, and provided this translation from the Arabic Alshaab.com news site. It details the use of Amantadine as an antiviral and the hospitalization of 8 additional suspected bird flu cases.
Kudos to her for her hard work.
Jan 20, 2007
Decided to detain three suspected cases of avian influenza in infected hospital pathogenesis of Tanta they insist names, Leila and Fatima Mohamed Seda was arrested on child Mustafa Kamal Ahmed Fayyoum were sent a sample of the survey thirst for the Ministry of Health's Central Committee.
It was also decided to send e-Shirin Azim from the village Albsioneh Fayyoum to the pathogenesis of Abbasiya on suspicion of being infected with avian influenza.
Dr Ahmad Sa'id, the director of veterinary medicine in Damietta, the execution of 400 chickens infected with avian influenza within villages and cloud Alsenatin sampling of Almkhalten of dead birds and sent to the Ministry of Health to make sure that there is no appearance of casualties.
<snip>
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health announced that it would use the Automatic Adamin [amantadine] to face new strain that appeared recently from the avian influenza virus, which scientists warned that it is more dangerous, it has not been proved so far that the transition from one to another.
<snip>
He explained that this is not the first time that the mutations of the virus and that samples had been sent to the laboratory quarters global research to find the genetic map of the new breed.
While just about everyone has heard of Tamiflu by now, Amantadine may be unfamiliar to some of you. It is an older antiviral, which has been around for decades. Up until a couple of years ago, it was considered to be effective in reducing the symptoms of seasonal influenza, but due to overuse in recent years, has seen a sharp rise in the reported incidence of resistance.
The H5N1 virus, however, has shown sensitivity to this M2 ion channel inhibitor, and it has been used successfully in the treatment of avian flu patients in the past. It received a weak conditional recommendation from the WHO on the first of this year as a treatment for avian flu.
An overview of their recommendations is here.
Once again, suspected cases of avian influenza do not equate to actual infections. Health authorities are on heightened alert in Egypt, just as they are in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, and any suspicious case is taken seriously.
