A 6-year-old Egyptian boy has contracted the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, the sixth case in a month in the most populous Arab country, state news agency MENA said on Sunday.
MENA named the boy as Ali Mahmoud Ali Somaa, from the Nile Delta province of Qalyubia. His case brings to 63 the number of confirmed cases of the H5N1 avian flu virus in Egypt, which has been hit harder by bird flu than any other country outside of Asia.
Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said Somaa started suffering symptoms two weeks ago and was admitted to hospital a week later, where he was treated with the antiviral drug tamiflu, according to MENA.
Somaa is in a critical condition and is breathing with an artificial respirator, MENA said.
On Friday, Egypt reported a 21-month-old boy had contracted bird flu.
Mike Coston also has this report, as well as a report from Treyfish stating that the two previous cases are next-door neighbours.
