Another H5N1 Case in Nile Delta
Recombinomics Commentary
March 27, 2007
The third case was reported by the Egyptian Health Ministry as a 46-year-old woman from the northern Delta city of Damnhour, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital, Cairo.
Since the first outbreak of bird flu in Egypt last year, the country has been one of the worst-affected outside Asia, where the disease originated. Egypt lies on a main route for migratory birds crossing continents.
The above comments describe the third confirmed H5N1 case reported today, which is in addition to the case (3F) yesterday in Aswan, and the two cases (10F and 2M) last week from Aswan. Thus, the six cases reported in the past week extend from Aswan in the south to Damnhour in the Nile Delta in the north.
The recent cases in the south have been mild and the first two sequences from Aswan had a novel cleavage site. The first four cases of this season were in Gharbiya, including a cluster of three involving the Tamiflu resistance polymorphism, N294S, which was present prior to treatment. All four cases from Gharbiya were fatal and the H5N1 had M230I.
Sequences from these four recent cases will be of interest.
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