BM News: More H1N1 cases in Egypt, total rises to 74

More H1N1 cases in Egypt, total rises to 74

Bikya Masr

4 July 2009

CAIRO: Egypt’s ministry of health on Saturday reported two more cases of the H1N1 influenza in the country, increasing the number of cases in the country to 74, a spokesman said in a statement.

The ministry said that both new infections had recently arrived in Egypt from abroad. A 6-year-old Egyptian girl came to Cairo on June 30 from Britain and a 23-year-old student arrived this week from Chile.

It is unclear whether they were stopped at the airport or were later quarantined after exhibiting symptoms.

The statement said both people were currently receiving proper treatment and were in stable condition at a local Cairo hospital.

Also, spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said that at least 58 cases of previous infections have thus far been cured. No person has died of the deadly influenza virus in Egypt to date.

Egypt, hit hard by the avian flu, fears the H1N1 will mutate and combine with the H5N1 bird flu virus to cause a major virus to develop.

The first H1N1 case in Egypt was reported on June 2 after a 12-year-old Egyptian-American girl arriving from the United States via The Netherlands exhibited flu-like symptoms.

The initial fears brought on by the virus led to the government’s culling of 300,000 pigs in what they believed to be an effort to eradicate the virus. Although evidence was revealed before the culling began that pigs were not responsible for what was being referred to as Swine Flu at the time, the government went ahead with the killing anyway.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease has infected more than 77,000 worldwide and more than 330 people have died from the virus.

BM