Eight Bird Flu Deaths in Egypt

December 25th, 2006

Cairo, Egypt - An eight victim has died of bird flu just hours after she tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus.

The 30-year-old was first treated on December 17th, before a brother and sister, aged 26 and 15, also fell ill.

The World Health Organization confirmed the test results on the three, who live with 30 other family members raising poultry in a town north of Cairo.

She is the eighth person to die of bird flu in Egypt. The positive tests raise to 17 the total number of human cases.

The two siblings are in a hospital in Cairo and have been treated. The rest of the family is under close medical surveillance, a WHO official said.

The extended family share one house in the town of Zifta in Gharbiya province, about 50 miles north of Cairo.