Egyptian woman falls victim to bird flu

According to preliminary tests a 30 year old woman, from a province north of Cairo, has become Egypt's first human victim of the bird flu virus.

The woman, who came from the province of Qalyoubiya, had had significant contact with poultry and showed symptoms of the disease on March 6, she died two weeks later.

The Egypt-based US Naval Medical Research are conducting additional test to confirm whether the case was H5N1, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The second suspected human case of bird flu in Egypt has also been reported. A 30-year old man, who worked on a chicken farm in the same province as the first victim, was admitted to hospital with a fever.

According to Egypt's Health Minister, Hatem el-Gabali, they expect to have 500,000 capsules of Tamiflu stockpiled by the end of September.

The first cases of bird flu in birds was discovered in Egypt last month.

Editor WorldPoultry