Geneva: Two women in Egypt have tested positive for a lethal strain of bird flu, the World Health Organisation said. The UN health agency said a 50-year-old woman was hospitalised with the H5N1 strain of the disease on December 24 and is in critical condition. A 22-year-old female chicken seller infected with the same strain was hospitalised December 26 and is recovering in intensive care, it said.
The cases, which were reported by Egypt's Ministry of Health, bring the total number of H5N1 infections in the country to 41,of which 16 have been fatal. The health ministry said on Wednesday that a 25-year-old woman from a town 200 kilometres south of Cairo died of bird flu after being admitted to hospital last Friday.
Bird flu is usually acquired when humans come into close contact with infected poultry. The virus has infected more than 340 people and killed at least 212 since 2003,mostly in Asia. Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia have also recently reported cases of H5N1 in humans.
