- Second reported death in two days
An Egyptian woman died on Tuesday of H5N1 bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds. This is the second death from the disease in two days and the third in the country this year, according to the country’s health ministry. The woman, who was 30 years old, hailed from the province of Minya, south of Cairo and died while being a patient in a hospital in the southern region of the country. A 19 year old woman also reportedly died of bird flu on in the same city on Monday.
The ministry has gone on record saying that it has identified a total of seven cases of the virus this year, including the three who died. The World Health Organization warns that whenever bird flu viruses are circulating in poultry, there is a risk of sporadic infections or small clusters of human cases, especially in people exposed to infected birds or contaminated environments.
Human cases of H5N1 are rare and the virus does not currently appear to transmit easily from person to person. Egypt’s H5N1 cases have largely been found in impoverished rural areas in the south of the country, where villagers, particularly women, tend to keep and slaughter poultry in the home.
Extracted and modified from Yahoo News.
