Confirmed H5N1 in Minufiyah Egypt Raises Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 18:20
March 4, 2008
In a separate statement, the ministry said an 11-year-old boy from the Nile Delta province of Menoufia had tested positive for the virus after entering a local hospital on Feb. 26.
The woman and the boy, named as Mohamed Rabie Mohamed Abdel Halim, are thought to have come into contact with sick birds
The above comments describe the third confirmed H5N1 in Egypt in just over a week. The cases were in separate governorates and signal the start of the spring season, when H5N1 cases peak. However, the cases this spring appear to be more aggressive.
The first case (4F) is stable, but had developed pneumonia in at least one lung. The second case (25F) developed pneumonia in both lungs, and has died. The status of the above case is not described, but last year at this time the cases were concentrated in upper Egypt and were mild.
The cases this season, including the five confirmed cases at the end of 2007, were large concentrated in the north. Many of the recent sequences published by national veterinary labs or NAMRU-3 have been from the north and have a large number of non synonymous changes, including M230I and M230V. Last season, all patients with M230I died.
Sequence data from the recent cases, and NA sequences from the recent poultry isolates would be useful.
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