An Egyptian woman died of bird flu on Sunday, raising Egypt's human deaths of bird flu to eight since this March, a World Health Organization (WHO) official told Xinhua.

 

The 30-year-old woman, who was admitted to Cairo's Abbasiya fever hospital on Saturday, was tested H5N1 positive just hours before her death, said WHO regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance Hassan el-Bushra.

 

The woman had been in rural hospital since Dec. 17, but was not immediately suspected of being infected with bird flu as she denied having had contact with poultry, el-Bushra noted.

 

The woman's two other family members from the Egyptian Delta governorate of Gharbiya, some 90 km north of Cairo, who were also confirmed infection with the H5N1 virus on Saturday, are in stable conditions after they were admitted to Cairo's Abbasiya fever hospital, he added.

 

Medical teams have been sent to the infected area to cull all birds around and the rest of the family is under close medical surveillance, el-Bushra said.

 

Egypt found the first bird flu case in dead poultry on Feb. 17, 2006 and then the virus spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates.

 

The populous Arab country reported first human bird flu case on March 18 of 2006, since then the total number of human bird flu cases have raised to 18, including eight dead and eight cured.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2006)