Egyptian 10-year-old tests positive for bird flu

A worker vaccinates a day-old chick against bird flu at the Wadi Hatcheries in Sadat City, March 8, 2007. A ten-year-old Egyptian girl has tested positive for bird flu, becoming the 25th human case in the most populous Arab country, a World Health Organization official said on Wednesday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - A ten-year-old Egyptian girl has tested positive for bird flu, becoming the 25th human case in the country, a World Health Organization official said on Wednesday.

"It occurred inside Aswan in an urban area, and we don't have much details at this point in time," said Hassan al-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable disease surveillance for the World Health Organization (WHO).

State news agency MENA quoted a health ministry spokesman as saying the girl, Amira Abdel Latif Nayel, had been admitted to a hospital in Aswan, 450 km south of Cairo, on Tuesday suffering from fever and muscle pains.

Tests had confirmed Nayel had the H5N1 virus, and she had been treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu and was stable, MENA quoted the spokesman as saying.

He added that her family were being kept under observation.

Bushra added that the girl will be transferred to Cairo for treatment.

On Sunday, WHO and the Egyptian health ministry said a 4-year-old boy had contracted the deadly bird flu virus, and had been receiving Tamiflu.

According to WHO the virus has killed 168 people since 2003 and at least 200 million birds have died or been culled.