Endemic H5N1 In Egypt
Recombinomics Commentary
July 23, 2007
Egypt's state news agency MENA identified the woman as Naima Abdu Gamil of the Nile Delta province of Damietta, in northern Egypt. It said she developed a high fever on Friday and was in good condition after receiving the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
The infection was a rare human case in Egypt's sweltering summer months. Egyptian officials had forecast the virus would hide away during the summer following a pattern set in 2006 when human bird flu cases disappeared between May and October.
The above comments on the 38th confirmed H5N1 case in Egypt, suggest H5N1 is now endemic there. In addition to this case in northern Egypt, last month there were three confirmed cases in central Egypt, in contrast to 2006, when no human cases were reported in the summer. Although the rate of reported human cases is higher in the winter, the summer reports signal widespread infections, which persist over the summer months.
The results in Egypt parallel the results in Europe, which has reported H5N1 in wild birds and poultry in June and July. These reports support endemic H5N1 in both regions, as well as in western Africa, where confirmed outbreaks are reported in Ghana and Togo.
Thus, after migrating into these regions in the fall of 2005, H5N1 has become established in resident wild bird populations, leading to infections reported throughout the year. Reports of H5N1 in Siberia, suggest additional positives will be reported in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa when these birds migrate to the south, beginning next month.
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