An Egyptian woman died of bird flu on Monday and became the country's seventh fatal case of the disease in humans, the Egyptian news agency MENA said.

 

"It is the seventh death due to bird flu," Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shaheen was quoted as saying by MENA.

 

This has been the first human death in Egypt from the virus since May. The victim was from the Nile Delta town of Samanoud who had slaughtered and handled domestic poultry and was taken to hospital on Oct. 4th after contracting the disease and suffering from high fever, Shaheen said.

 

Egypt found the first bird flu case in dead poultry on Feb. 17, and the virus then spread to 20 governorates of the country's 26 in total.

 

The populous country reported first human bird flu case on March 18. Since then, it has detected 14 human cases with the last case reported on May 18. Of the 14, six died while the rest recovered.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)