14 DAY TRIAL // Egyptian authorities have confirmed on Monday the 12th infection caused by the H5N1 virus. The patient, 18-year-old woman from Minufiyah, in the north of Egypt, began to show symptoms of infection on April 5 and was hospitalized on 11 April.
According to doctors attending to her, the woman's situation is stable. Women are often left to slaughter domestic poultry and cook it, so the government is asking for more care and awareness among women, in order to protect themselves and their families.
Authorities stated she had prolonged physical contact with sick birds and that family members and close friends of the woman don't show, so far, signs of infection. "She is being given Tamiflu, the necessary treatment for battling bird flu," a ministry official said.
So far, bird flu has killed 3 people in Egypt, infected another 9, among whom, 5 made full recoveries and 4 remain hospitalized. The confirmation of the infection of 18-year-old woman was made after some tissue samples, taken from the woman, were tested for H5N1 at Egypt's Central Public Health Laboratory.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 4 of Egypt's total cases, including 2 of the deaths. Spreading rapidly since 2003, from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, bird flu has killed at least 109 people worldwide. February was the month Egypt announced its first cases of bird flu infection and reported the first human infection in the middle of March.