CAIRO: New cases of domestic fowl with bird flu were found in southern Egypt and Cairo last week, the Health Ministry said Monday, the first new cases to be reported in months.
Health Ministry official Amr Qandil said four people suspected with symptoms of bird flu in the southern province of Sohag were tested negative and discharged from hospital.
The new cases of birds with the lethal H5N1 strain of the virus were found in a village in Sohag, 345 km south of Cairo, on Tuesday and in Cairo on Thursday.
All the birds in the areas nearby were culled.
Six people have died of bird flu in Egypt since the disease broke out in the country in early March.
Qandil said the Health Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry have been making preparations to combat the disease in case it returned to the country with the new birds migration season starting at the end of September.
Bird flu ravaged poultry farms in Asia in late 2003. It also jumped to humans killing at least 141 people worldwide. Most human deaths have been traced to contact with sick birds.
Experts fear the bird flu virus may mutate into a form that can easily spread among people, possibly sparking a pandemic. AP
