World Health Organization officials in Egypt have announced that a woman tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. That brings the total number of cases in Egypt to 21, with 12 deaths.
The 37-year-old woman, Nadia Mohammed Abdel Hafez, raised poultry in her home, like most of Egypt's bird flu victims. The woman is from the oasis province of Fayoum, 70 kilometers south of Cairo, where a 17-year-old girl died of bird flu earlier this month.
A Cairo-based World Health Organization official, John Jabbour, denied speculation that the woman has contracted a drug-resistant mutation of the virus. He said she is being treated in a government facility for contagious diseases in the nation's capital.
At an international conference on bird flu in Cairo, Egypt's Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly accused the international community of not providing enough aid to African nations to cope with the disease.
Since its first case one year ago, Egypt has been one of the countries worst afflicted with bird flu outside of Asia, where the disease originated. Cases have been discovered in 19 of Egypt's 26 provinces.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
