CAIRO, May 14 (RIA Novosti) - A 4-year-old Egyptian
boy has contracted the bird flu virus, bringing the number of
human avian flu cases in the country to 70, a deputy health
minister said on Thursday.
Amr Kandil said the boy from the Sharqiya in the country's
northeast had been hospitalized with a high fever. The tests
confirmed the H5N1 virus.
The boy was being treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu
and his condition was stable, the health official said.
Egypt's first case of bird flu was recorded in 2006, since
when at least 26 people have died after contracting the virus.
Although there have been no incidences of human-to-human
infection, experts fear that the bird flu virus may mutate into
a form that could be easily transmitted from person to person,
causing a global pandemic.
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