Egyptian boy, 4, contracts bird flu virus
CAIRO, May 14 (Reuters) - A four-year-old Egyptian boy has contracted the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing to 70 the number of human avian flu cases in the most populous Arab country, the state news agency MENA reported.
Egypt has been hit harder by the virus than any other country outside Asia and has seen a surge of cases in recent weeks. Ten new human infections have been reported since April 1 -- more than the country saw in all of 2008.
The latest sufferer from the virus is from the Nile Delta province of Sharkiya, MENA said.
The avian flu virus rarely infects people, but experts say they fear it could mutate into a form that humans could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions. Some 26 Egyptians have died after contracting the virus.
Most of those infected had come into contact with infected domestic birds in a country where 5 million households raise poultry as a significant source of food and income.
MENA reported that the boy, believed to have contracted the virus from sick household birds, had entered hospital suffering from a high fever and showing flu symptoms.
He was being treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu and was in a stable condition, MENA added.
Last month, Egypt ordered the culling of all the country's 300,000 to 400,000 pigs as a precaution against the new H1N1 influenza strain, also known as swine flu, which has infected nearly 6,000 people in more than 30 countries. The new virus has not been detected in Egypt so far.
Since 2003, the more deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has infected more than 400 people in 15 countries and killed more than 250. It has killed or forced the culling of more than 300 million birds in 61 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston, editing by Tim Pearce)
Egypt has been hit harder by the virus than any other country outside Asia and has seen a surge of cases in recent weeks. Ten new human infections have been reported since April 1 -- more than the country saw in all of 2008.
The latest sufferer from the virus is from the Nile Delta province of Sharkiya, MENA said.
The avian flu virus rarely infects people, but experts say they fear it could mutate into a form that humans could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions. Some 26 Egyptians have died after contracting the virus.
Most of those infected had come into contact with infected domestic birds in a country where 5 million households raise poultry as a significant source of food and income.
MENA reported that the boy, believed to have contracted the virus from sick household birds, had entered hospital suffering from a high fever and showing flu symptoms.
He was being treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu and was in a stable condition, MENA added.
Last month, Egypt ordered the culling of all the country's 300,000 to 400,000 pigs as a precaution against the new H1N1 influenza strain, also known as swine flu, which has infected nearly 6,000 people in more than 30 countries. The new virus has not been detected in Egypt so far.
Since 2003, the more deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has infected more than 400 people in 15 countries and killed more than 250. It has killed or forced the culling of more than 300 million birds in 61 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston, editing by Tim Pearce)
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