(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A 65-year-old Egyptian woman has died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the health ministry said yesterday, the second victim of the virus this month.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there has been a recent jump in the number of H5N1 infections in people in Egypt, but says there does not appear to have been any major genetic change in the flu strain to explain the rise in human cases.
The latest victim came from the central province of Assiut, the health ministry said. Egypt's H5N1 cases have largely been in poor rural areas in the south, where villagers tend to keep and slaughter poultry in the home. Seven other cases are currently being treated and three have recovered this year, the ministry said.
At least 10 people died from the disease in Egypt in 2014. The Geneva-based WHO said on Tuesday that between December 4 to January 6, there had been 18 new laboratory-confirmed human cases of H5N1 infection in Egypt, including four deaths. This was the highest ever monthly number of human cases in Egypt, the UN public health agency said.
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