Egypt: 13th Bird Flu Fatality Reported
# 460
More sad news from Egypt, as the latest confirmed avian flu case, a 37 year-old woman, has died.
Egyptian woman with bird flu dies - health official
Fri 16 Feb 2007 10:45:22 GMT
CAIRO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A 37-year-old Egyptian woman who tested positive for the bird flu virus has died in hospital, bringing the number of deaths from the disease in Egypt to 13, a government health official said on Friday.
"She died yesterday evening," said Amr Qandil, director of communicable diseases at the Egyptian Health Ministry.
Beyond the tragedy of the loss to her and her family is the fact that every known avian flu patient in Egypt since October has succumbed to the disease.
Reports as recently as two days ago indicated this patient was responding to treatment and was in good condition. These reports from Feb 14th, via Reuters.
There is a case, 37-years old, from Fayoum. She has been transferred to Abbasiya (hospital) in good condition," said Hassan el-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance for the World Health Organization.
Officials said the woman was responding well to treatment, and there was no indication she was infected with a mutated strain of the H5N1 virus that had shown "moderate" resistance to the frontline anti-viral drug Tamiflu.
"We are not suspecting mutation anymore," said Cairo-based WHO official John Jabbour. "This case is stable. It is responding to treatment.
We will have to await more details to know exactly what happened and to find out if the virus developed resistance to Tamiflu.
A disturbing trend, and a not so gentle reminder that this virus is insidious, and our ability to combat it, very limited.
