Cairo's First Human Bird Flu Infection Confirmed

Featured Article
Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 08 Apr 2007 - 13:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Authorities in Egypt have confirmed that a girl, 15, is the first human to become infected with the bird flu virus in the capital, Cairo - the 34th human to become infected in the country so far.

The patient is called Marianna Kameel Mikhail, from the Shubra district, Cairo. She was hospitalized on April 5th. Doctors say she is in a 'stable' condition. According to the Egyptian news agency, MENA, she is being treated with the antiviral medication, Tamiflu.

Authorities say she had been in contact with sick birds prior to becoming ill.

13 people have so far died of bird flu in Egypt.

Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus strain, the virulent one, will one day mutate and spread easily from human-to-human. This has not happened yet. Despite all the news about humans becoming ill, it is still extremely difficult for a bird to infect a person.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Toady


Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

• Additional
• References
• Citations