EGYPT HEALTH MINISTRY CLAIMS BIRD FLU LOCALISED TO POULTRY BREEDERS

From IRIN News : "CAIRO, 8 May 2006 - Human deaths caused by the potentially pathogenic avian virus H5N1 have resulted mostly from exposure to infected fowl kept domestically, according to a health ministry statement issued following a meeting of the Supreme National Committee to Combat Bird Flu.

"The statement read : 'There were 11 cases that resulted from domestic breeding. Only two cases have been the result of labour in poultry farms'."

"Avian flu was first reported among birds in mid-February, while the first human death occurred a month later. Out of 13 reported human cases, a total of five have died, the ministry statement noted.

"Most recently, a 27-year-old woman from Menoufiya province, 80 km north of Cairo, died on 4 May after receiving unsuccessful treatment at a Cairo hospital. According to the ministry, the woman, who was infected following close contact with diseased birds, reported her case to the authorities too late for treatment to be effective.

"'She did not undergo medical checks following exposure to infected birds until the disease had entered its late stages,' the health ministry statement read.

"At present, infections among poultry have been recorded in 20 of Egypt�s 26 governorates. When an infection is found, all poultry within a 1km radius is culled..."