BIRD FLU NEWS FROM EGYPT TO BANGLADESH TO VIETNAM

REUTERS:

An 8-year-old boy in Fayoum province has contracted the bird flu virus after coming into contact with infected birds -- the 47th case among humans in Egypt since 2006, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The boy, Abdel Hamid el-Sayed Youssef, was taken to a local hospital with a high temperature, difficulty breathing and a pulmonary inflammation, spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said in a statement.

He moved to a Cairo hospital on Friday and is being treated with Tamiflu, the standard treatment for humans, it said.

An Egyptian woman from the same province southwest of Cairo died of the disease last week but a health official said there did not appear to have been contact between them.

Altogether 20 people have died of bird flu in Egypt since it arrived in the country in February 2006.

VIETNAM:

Some 3,700 birds were culled at a poultry farm in Soc Son District after a bird flu outbreak infected nearly two thirds of the farm’s livestock, the Hanoi Animal Health Department reported Thursday.

The northern province of Tuyen Quang also reported an outbreak in Son Duong District.

Northern Vietnam is seeing a massive outspread of bird flu epidemic as eight out of the 12 provinces and city hit by the epidemic nationwide are in the north, including Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Tuyen Quang and Hanoi.

Central provinces include Quang Nam and Quang Binh.

The southern provinces of Tra Vinh and Vinh Long are also hit.

BANGLADESH:

A poultry farmer was quarantined at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital as doctors suspect that he might be infected with bird flu virus.

Ashraf Hossain, 32, of Terokhadia Pashchimpara in Rajshahi was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday as he showed multiple symptoms of the disease. His blood sample was sent to Dhaka for test.

The above comments describe a suspect H5N1 case in Bangladesh.

FROM NORTH AFRICA TO CENTRAL ASIA AND THE FAR EAST: IT'S GETTING WORSE AND MORE WIDESPREAD EVERY WEEK...