H5N1 Transfers to Cairo Unclear
Recombinomics Commentary 12:50
January 7, 2008
A 23-year-old woman has escaped from a hospital in Egypt after being preliminary diagnosed with a deadly bird flu virus, local media reported on Monday.
The woman was hospitalized last week with high temperature in the town of Tahta in the Upper Egyptian Sohag Governorate. She fled the hospital following the doctors' decision to transfer her to a special clinic.
The above comments describe one of the many suspected H5N1 patients hospitalized in Egypt. About 25 patients per day have been hospitalized for the past several days, and their current status remains unclear (see satellite map for detail and locations).
Although some patients have tested negative for H5N1, many are still being held at local infectious disease hospitals for further testing. Local media reports describe plans for transfer of confirmed cases to the Abbassia Fever Hospital in Cairo.
Although the number of hospitalized patients and clusters has been high, there have been no confirmed cases announced in the past week. The above case may be one patient who was slated fro transfer to Cairo.
The number of patients who have been transferred remains unclear.
Details on the number of such patients and their condition would be useful.
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