EGYPT HAS ITS SECOND HUMAN BIRD FLU CASE IN A WEEK

REUTERS:

A 25-year-old Egyptian woman tested positive for bird flu on Saturday, the 45th confirmed human case in the Arab world's most populous country, state news agency MENA said.

Ministry of Health spokesman Abdel Rahman Shaheen said the woman had been treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu and had been transferred from Fayoum province to a hospital in Cairo, the agency said.

The woman was suffering from a high fever, both her lungs were inflamed, and she was being kept on a respirator and under observation, Shaheen said.

A 4-year-old girl tested positive for bird flu on Monday.

Four Egyptian women died from bird flu in December. Their deaths ended a 5-month pause in human cases in Egypt and brought to 19 the number of Egyptians who have died of the H5N1 bird flu virus since it emerged in Egypt in early 2006.

• IT'S GETTING WORSE.
• IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE IT'S A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.