A 38-year-old Egyptian woman has contracted the virus of bird flu, bringing the number of human cases of the fatal avian influenza in the country to 59, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

The woman came from the Elfath district in the central Egyptian governorate of Asyut, some 330 km south of Cairo, the WHO said in a press release on its website.

On March 14, the woman showed the symptoms of a fever and headache and was admitted to Assiut Fever Hospital for treatment, said the WHO, citing reports of the Egyptian Health Ministry.

"Infection with H5N1 avian influenza was confirmed on March 18 by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratory," the WHO said, adding she is in a stable condition.

Investigations indicated that she had contacted with dead and sick poultry.

Egypt is the most affected country by the deadly avian influenza outside Asia. It reported its first H5N1 virus in dead poultry in February 2006 and the first human case in March of the same year.

According to the latest statistics of the WHO, some 412 people in 15 countries and regions have contracted the virus and 256 of them died of the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2009)