# 6012
My thanks to Crof at Crofsblog for picking up on today’s update from the World Health Organization on two H5N1 cases earlier this month in Egypt, one of which was fatal.
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 58
15 December 2011 - The Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt has notified WHO of two cases of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.
The two cases are a mother and her young child from Dakahlia Governorate. Both developed symptoms on 26 November 2011.The mother was admitted to a Hospital on 1 December 2011 and received oseltamivir on admission. The child was hospitalised on 2 December 2011 and received oseltamivir on admission. The mother was 24 weeks pregnant. She died on 3 December 2011. The child is in stable condition.
Investigations into the source of infection indicate that both cases had exposure to sick and dead backyard poultry (chicken and turkeys).
The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratories, a National Influenza Centre of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network, on 3 December 2011.
Of the 155 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 53 have been fatal.
Bird flu remains primarily a threat to poultry - as the virus remains poorly adapted to human physiology – although there are signs that may be slowly changing (see PLoS: Human-Type H5N1 Receptor Binding In Egypt).
Despite ample opportunities to cause illness in humans, the virus only causes rare, sporadic infections.
The concern, of course, is that over time that may change. That the virus will mutate into a form that is easily acquired and passed on by humans.
And so we watch developments in places where the virus is endemic with particular interest.
