A 33-year-old woman from Kafr el-Sheikh province died Friday from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, Egypt's third bird flu fatality in a single week, the health ministry confirmed. She had been admitted to hospital on 15 April with fever and breathing difficulties, and her death brought Egypt's total H5N1 toll to 26 since the virus was first detected in the country in 2006.
The week's other two deaths were a six-year-old boy and a 25-year-old woman from Cairo. A fourth case, a 34-year-old woman from Tanta, was treated with the antiviral Tamiflu and remained in stable condition; she is Egypt's 68th confirmed patient since the outbreak began.
Egypt has seen a rise in infections over the past two months. Most victims are young women and girls, who typically tend household poultry in rural areas, while children under three are difficult to keep away from birds raised on rooftops. Ministry spokesman Abdurrahman Shahin described the situation as "worrying."
The World Health Organization called in March for an inquiry into the high proportion of child victims. Globally, the WHO estimates H5N1 has killed roughly 250 people since 2003, with the majority of cases concentrated in Southeast Asia.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in April 2009, in its own words.