Egypt reports 3 H5N1 infections, 1 fatal

Lisa Schnirring  Staff Writer

Mar 29, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Egypt's health ministry has announced three more H5N1 avian influenza infections, including a 32-year-old man who died, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

The three new illnesses and death push Egypt's H5N1 burden so far this year to 14 cases, which include 5 deaths. The WHO said investigations into all three illnesses suggest that the patients had been exposed to sick and dead poultry.

The man, from Suez governorate, got sick on Mar 8, was hospitalized on Mar 12 where he died the next day, the WHO said in a statement.

The other cases include a 28-year-old woman from Giza governorate who started having symptoms on Mar 8 and was hospitalized on Mar 10, where she is stable condition. The third patient is a 4-year-old boy from Beheira governorate who became ill on Mar 5 and was hospitalized 2 days later. He was discharged on Mar 12 and has recovered.

Egypt's newly reported cases push the country's total number of H5N1 infections to 133, including 45 deaths.

Though the country is still second to Indonesia in the total number of H5N1 cases, since 2009 it has led the world in WHO-confirmed H5N1 cases and since 2010 has led in H5N1 deaths.

The WHO's global H5N1 count now stands at 538 infections, 317 of them fatal.

See also:

Mar 29 WHO statement