Egyptian bird flu death toll reaches 19

Spreading like wild fire around the world, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has engulfed two more lives in Egypt, bringing the overall number of Egyptians who have died from disease to 19 since it appeared in the country last year in February.

After a five-month lull, the extremely infectious H5N1 bird flu virus is back in Egypt, claiming four human lives over the past week. All four deaths involved women, who were believed to have infection by coming in contact with birds who were infected with the virus.

Health officials in Egypt reported two new deaths, involving two women from Nile Delta region. According to Egypt's Health Ministry, Firdaus Mohamed Hadad of Menoufia province in the Nile Delta region north of Cairo and Hanem Ibrahim Attwa from Damietta, also in the Nile Delta died of bird flu on Monday, bringing the week's toll from the virus to four.

The health ministry said that one victim Firdaus, 36, from Menoufia province was admitted to a hospital on Saturday and died early on Monday. She was exposed to infected poultry, a ministry official said.

"She suffered from a high fever and difficulty breathing and had a pulmonary infection after coming into contact with birds suspected of being infected with avian flu," the statement said. "She was placed on a respirator but died at dawn on Monday."

Later in the day, the health officials announced the death of Hanim Ibrahim Attwa, 44, who was admitted at Al-Abbasiya hospital in Cairo, and also died Monday from bird flu.

Merely days ago, the ministry has reported two deaths, including two women who were tested positive for the H5N1 strain and eventually died of the disease. The two victims, the 16th and 17th, were identified as Fatima Fathi Mohammed, from the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya, and Ola Youness Mohammed, from the Beni Suef town south of Cairo.

Fatma Fathi Mohammed, 25, was admitted in hospital in the Nile Delta province of Mansura on December 27 after complaining of high fever and shortness of breath. She later died in the hospital.

Oula Yunes Ali, 25, died on last Tuesday after being admitted to hospital the previous Friday with a high fever.

In Egypt, which accounts for the highest number of confirmed human bird flu cases outside Asia, the virus has engulfed 19 human lives (including recent four deaths) since it first surfaced in the country's poultry a year ago, making it one of the worst-affected countries outside Asia. Out of a total of 43 humans who have caught bird flu in Egypt, 19 have died and 24 have recovered.

The most common way to get the bird flu in Egypt is from household birds. Most of the victims infected in Egypt are women, as well as some children, who had contact with live birds kept in the backyards of homes.

Egypt is the Arab world's most populous country with more than 73 million people and a major route for migratory bird, consumes about 800 million fowl every year. The country detected the first bird flu case in dead poultry Feb 17, 2006, which then spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates, and reported the first human bird flu case last year on March 18.

Since the virus re-emerged in Asia in 2003, the deadly H5N1 strain has infected more than 340 people and killed 214 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, and the outbreaks have been confirmed in around 50 countries and territories, according to data from the WHO.

Countries with confirmed human deaths due to the H5N1 strain are: Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. Health experts fear the strain could mutate into a form that spreads easily among human, sparking a pandemic.