Egypt has latest H5N1 case

Jul 23, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) official in Cairo said yesterday that test results in a 25-year-old Egyptian woman were positive for H5N1 avian influenza.

The country's state news agency, MENA, said the woman is from the Nile Delta's Damietta province in northern Egypt, according to a Reuters report yesterday. She came down with a high fever 3 days ago and is in good condition after receiving oseltamivir, MENA reported.

John Jabbour, a WHO representative in Egypt, told Reuters the woman reportedly got sick after she had contact with dead household birds. If her case is confirmed by the WHO she will become Egypt's 38th case-patient. For now, Egypt's official count stands at 37 cases and 15 deaths.

Egyptian officials had projected that H5N1 activity would wane during the hot summer months, as it did during 2006 when there were no human cases between May and October, Reuters reported. However, the country continues to report sporadic cases; Egypt's last case was reported in late June.