Egypt Reports Its 24th Human Bird Flu Infection

A four-year-old boy has tested positive for bird flu in the Egyptian Nile Delta province of Dakahlia, national newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Sunday quoting a statement by Egypt's health ministry.

This is the second confirmed case detected in Dakahlia. The first - in early March - was of a four-year-old girl who was reportedly in contact with domestic poultry, according to health ministry sources.

The young boy was transferred to a hospital around three days ago, and is currently being treated for "high temperature and pneumonia"; symptoms that are usually manifested in those carrying the virus.

Since the first outbreak of bird flu in Egypt in 2005, 13 of 24 people who contracted the illness have died.

After an initial panic which saw many Egyptians getting rid of their birds, people in rural areas have since resumed raising poultry domestically to sell at public markets or as a source of cheaper protein.

Previous cases of infection were usually accompanied by exposure to sick birds. Generally, if a person is infected, the Egyptian health ministry monitors the rest of the family members for signs of the disease.

Several weeks ago, the Egyptian government had suspected that a mutated strain of the virus with "reduced susceptibility" to the Tamiflu vaccine had emerged.

Medical experts confirmed shortly afterwards that the virus had in fact not mutated to a new and more dangerous strain transmitted between humans.