A four-year-old boy from the Nile Delta town of Daqahliya tested positive for the H5N1 virus on 11 March. Sayyid al-Abbasi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the boy had contracted the virus from domestic birds raised by his family. He added that his condition was stable.
The country?s densely populated Nile Valley has seen the worst concentration of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza infection outside Asia. To combat the virus, the country has embarked on a new campaign that the government estimates will cost about US $450 million.
The Egyptian government is working on new legislation that will restrict the movement of live poultry as the country reported its 24th case of avian flu.