Via Al-Ahram Weekly: New poultry scare. Excerpt:
The H7 strain of the bird flu virus has been detected in Egypt for the first time.
Nine migrant birds, all of them ducks, tested positive for the virus when 6,432 samples were taken from the approximately one million birds that annually migrate over Al-Manzalah Lake in the Sharqiya governorate from central and eastern Europe.
The recently identified H7 strain is thought to pose little risk, certainly in comparison with the virulent H5N1 strain of the virus.
The H7 strain samples are now being tested at both the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) and Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) laboratories in order to determine the N subtype. Avian Influenza has 16 H and nine N subtypes. Only viruses of the H5 and H7 subtypes comprise the pathogenic form of the disease though not all H5 and H7 subtypes cause severe disease in poultry.Abdel-Rahman Shahin, spokesman at the MOHP, explains that the H5 and H7 viruses are usually introduced to poultry in a low pathogenic form. It is only after several months that they mutate into highly pathogenic strains. The appearance of the H7 strain is therefore a cause for concern.
The virus has been known to infect humans but is less virulent than the H5N1 strain. Shahin also warned that Egypt must remain alert for yet other strains of the virus given that it lies on major bird migration routes.
