An Egyptian woman has died after contracting the bird flu virus, officials at the World Health Organistaion [WHO] have said.
 
The thirty-year-old woman died in a hospital in Cairo on Sunday, shortly after tests confirmed that she and two members of her extended family had contracted the H5N1 virus.
 
 
Hassan el-Bushra, a WHO regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance, said the woman had been in hospital since December 17 but that doctors had not immediately suspected she was suffering from bird flu.
 
The woman was part of an extended family of 33 people living in a single house in a village near the town of Zifta, in Gharbiya province, about 80km north of Cairo.
 
The woman was the third member of the family to be diagnosed with bird flu in 24 hours, after WHO officials had earlier confirmed that two siblings from the same house, a brother, 26, and sister, 15, had contracted the virus.
 
The brother and sister have been treated for the virus and the rest of the family is under medical surveillance.
 
El-Bushra said the family raised ducks in their home and the brother and sister had slaughtered the flock after a number of ducks became sick and died.
 
The woman's death brings the total number of human deaths from the H5N1 virus in Egypt to eight.
 
There have been 18 cases of humans contracting the virus recorded in the country since bird flu was first recognised in Egyptian poultry in February.
 
In October, an official with the Food and Agriculture Organisation had said the onset of cooler weather could cause a flare-up of cases in poultry.

Photo Caption

A chicken