November 21, 2006

New bird flu infection in poultry reported in northern Egypt

The Egyptian city of Alexandria has reported an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu among household poultry.

Health officials in the northern Egyptian city have culled the infected domestic fowls, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.

Medical tests on people who have been in direct contact with the infected poultry are ongoing, a statement from the Health Ministry said.

Earlier in November, bird flu cases in poultry were reported in the northern Egyptian governorate of al-Menofiya and the southern city of Luxor.

Egypt found the first bird flu case on Feb 17, and then the virus spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates.