Bird Flu :: Egypt bird flu – minor loses life

A 15-year-old girl became the ninth fatal victim of the avian influenza virus and the first minor to lose her life to the disease in Egypt, said health ministry media official Sayyid Al-Abbasi.

The girl, who died on Monday, was the niece of a 30-year-old woman who died from the disease on 24 December. The two lived in the same home in Gharbiyya province, 90 km north of Cairo. Another member of the family, the woman?s nephew who was also diagnosed with bird flu, is in stable condition.

“But you never really know with bird flu,” said Al-Abbasi, to show that the patient was not altogether out of danger.

The family bred and lived in close quarters with domestically reared ducks infected with the potentially lethal virus.

“To start with they denied they were rearing birds at home, but tests showed that they had been infected,” said Al-Abbasi, adding that had they gone into hospital earlier then the two females might have survived.


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