New human case of avian influenza A [H5N1] in Egypt

ABSTRACT

The Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt has reported three new cases of human infection with avian influenza A [H5N1] virus in November and one new case in December 2011. Of these newly reported cases, two were fatal. Thus, the total number of confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A [H5N1] reported from Egypt rose to 156 including 54 deaths. All these newly reported cases had exposure to sick chicken in the backyard poultry. However, upon investigation it was also found that at-least three of the newly reported cases were found to have been epidemiologically linked to each other hailing from the same district. Further investigations are ongoing on this cluster of cases found in the same district