Egyptian woman dies of bird flu

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6368821.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A 37-seven-year-old Egyptian woman has died of bird flu, bringing the number of confirmed deaths from the virus in Egypt to 13.

The woman, Nadia Abdel Hafez, came from Fayyoum - an area well known in Egypt for poultry breeding.

Reports from Egypt say she kept poultry in her home.

Egypt has the largest known number of human cases of bird flu outside Asia. Most of those who have contracted the virus have died.

The latest fatality is the second this month in Fayyoum.

Of the 12 people who have died from the illness in Egypt, 11 have been women.

QUICK GUIDE<a href="/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/quick_guides/05/health_bird_flu/html/1.stm" onClick="window.open('http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/quick_guides/05/health_bird_flu/html/1.stm', '1118663144', 'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=600,height=430,left=312,top=100'); return false;" >Bird flu</a>

Women and girls are often responsible for looking after poultry in Egypt.

The virus has been detected in at least 19 of the country's 26 provinces.

Mutation

There are fears that the latest victims of avian influenza had been infected with a mutated strain of the virus.

The World Health Organization recently announced that two of those who had died in Egypt had been infected with a strain of the virus that was showed moderate resistance to the antiviral drug, Tamiflu.

More than 80 people have died of H5N1 bird flu since the disease's resurgence in December 2003 - most of them in South East Asia.

Experts point out that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected birds.

But they say if the H5N1 strain mutates so it can be passed between humans, it could become a global pandemic.