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CAIRO : An Egyptian woman has died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the 16th person to succumb to the virus in Egypt, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
Oula Yunes Ali, 25, died on Tuesday after being admitted to hospital on Friday with a high fever, ministry spokesman Abdel Rahmane Shahin said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.
Ali was hospitalised with fever and respiratory problems after spending time in proximity to infected birds at home. Her family will now undergo tests to see if they have been infected.
It was the 39th case of reported human bird flu infection since the virus first appeared in Egypt in February 2006.
Women and children have borne the brunt of the virus because of their role in caring for domestic fowl. A 10-year-old girl was the last person to die from the disease in Egypt in June.
Egypt's location on major bird migration routes and the widespread practice of keeping domestic fowl near living quarters have led to it being the hardest-hit country outside Asia.
The government says it is conducting a vigorous campaign to combat the spread of the virus through vaccinations and raising awareness, but cases continue to appear.
"This death proves that the illness is still present in Egypt, and that the fact no case has been reported for six months does not mean the virus has disappeared," Shahin told the Nile News television channel.
He called on the public to remain vigilant and deplored the relaxation of precautions because of "the belief that the virus has disappeared."
Shahin called for "banning the raising of fowl in towns, transporting them between provinces without authorisation and also reinforcing controls on where
they are raised and sold."
"Sick people denying they have been in contact with contaminated domestic fowl makes it more difficult to detect the virus and to treat it, which leads to people dying," Shahin warned.
The World Health Organisation said earlier this year that countries around the world had improved their resistance to bird flu, but the situation remains critical in Egypt and Indonesia where the risk of the H5N1 virus mutating into a major human threat remains high.
Egypt and Indonesia remained high-risk because of the permanent contact that many people in both nations have with domesticated birds. - AFP/ms/de
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