Three More H5N1 Confirmed Children in Egypt
Recombinomics Commentary
April 1, 2007
The health ministry said late on Saturday that Mariam Abdel Fatah from the town of Qanater, just north of Cairo, had been diagnosed with the H5N1 virus and taken to a hospital specialising in treating the condition.
Two other cases, both children from the impoverished south of Egypt, were announced the same day: Ibrahim Mahmud Helmi, four, from Qena province and Mahmud Mohammed Shalabi, seven, from Sohag.
The above description of three confirmed H5N1 case in Egypt is in addition to the two cases confirmed earlier this week. One of the patients confirmed Tuesday (6F) is the sister of the patient (4M) from Qena. US NAMRU-3 sequenced the HA and NA form the sister. It is closely related to HA and NA sequences from Beni Suef and Fayyoum. The HA sequence has a characteristic 3 BP deletion.
The large number of cases in the past two weeks is cause for concern. H5N1 from the three cases from Aswan as well as the case from Mena form another cluster of patients will similar H5N1 sequences. Moreover, the proximity of Sohag to Mena and Qina suggests H5N1 us infecting patients along an extensive region of the Nile.
Sequence data on the recent cases would be useful.
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