Bird flu worries send Egyptians to hospital
Egyptian officials on Monday said that Egyptians are heading to hospital fearing they might be the next victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu after two human cases were detected in the country.
“There are two or three cases of people who came to hospital and tests are underway,” said Nasser Kamel, spokesman for the government anti bird flu committee.
But he cautioned that the cases were not yet suspect, stressing tests were being carried out as a precautionary measure.
“It’s logical that after human cases were announced, people are worried and go to hospital even when they’ve just got a normal flu,” he said.
In a report the anti bird flu committee also said that 121 people who had been in contact with 12 new bird flu outbreaks in eight provinces, including the governor-ate of Cairo, had tested negative for the infection.
Two-thirds of Egypt’s 25 provinces have now been affected by bird flu, it said.
Authorities said on Sunday that two human cases had been detected, including that of a woman who died on Friday.
An infected man has also been hospitalized after spending time with infected poultry but medics said Sunday he was recovering.
Egyptian authorities and a US Naval laboratory in Cairo confirmed the presence of the potentially deadly strain in both cases but samples had been sent to London for further tests by the World Health Organization.
Egyptian officials fear that since the country is on a major route for migratory birds, at the crossroads between Asia and Africa, further bird flu outbreaks are possible.