# 2651
For the second time in a month, Egypt is reporting a human H5N1 bird flu infection, this time in a 21 month old girl. She is reportedly in stable condition.
While the bird flu situation in Egypt doesn't get much press, the virus is endemic in that nation, and they have reported more than 1,000 outbreaks in poultry over the past couple of years.
To date, Egypt has detected 52 human infections, with 23 fatalities.
This initial report is from Reuters. We should get some more detail from the WHO over the next day or two.
Egyptian girl has bird flu, 2nd case this season
12 Jan 2009 19:40:59 GMT
Source: Reuters
CAIRO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - An Egyptian girl of 21 months has contracted bird flu and is in hospital in stable condition, a health ministry official said on Monday.
She is the 52nd case among humans in Egypt and the second of this winter season.
The girl, named as Asmaa Mohamed Salah Ismail, showed the first symptoms on Friday and was admitted to a specialist hospital on Saturday, said assistant health minister Nasr el-Sayed, quoted by the state news agency MENA.
The other Egyptian to contract the deadly virus this year, a woman near the southern town of Assiut, died on Dec. 15. From the 52 human cases in Egypt over almost three years, 23 have died, but the number of cases seems to be diminishing.
The girl, from the village of Kerdasa on the western edge of Cairo, had been in contact with infected birds and showed the usual first symptoms -- a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea, Sayed said.
