Egyptian boy has bird flu ...

A 2 year-old Egyptian boy has tested positive for bird flu, becoming the country's 26th human case of avian influenza, Egypt's health ministry said in a statement today.

The statement gave the child's name as Youssef Mohamed Mahmoud and said he had been admitted to hospital in the southern city of Aswan on Friday suffering from fever after exposure to birds suspected of being infected with the deadly virus.

Last week, another Egyptian boy (4) has contracted the deadly bird flu virus. Egypt has the largest bird flu cluster outside Asia, with 13 deaths out of the 26 reported human cases. Most of those infected in Egypt had contact with live birds kept at home. Bird flu initially caused panic across Egypt and did extensive damage to the poultry industry, although the sector has since largely recovered.

Around five million households in Egypt depend on poultry as a main source of food and income and the government has said this makes it unlikely the disease can be eradicated. Bushra said Ibrahim came into contact with dead poultry in the first three days of March. The health ministry said in a statement his family was being tested for the deadly virus.

Bird flu initially caused panic across Egypt and did extensive damage to the poultry industry. The government has said poultry production has recovered to 2 million birds a day, the same level as before the outbreak. - Reuters.