CAIRO, 21 March 2006 — Egyptians are heading to hospital fearing they might be the next victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu after two human cases were detected in the country, officials said yesterday. “There are two or three cases of people who came to hospital and tests are under way,” said Nasser Kamel, spokesman for the government anti-bird flu committee.
But he cautioned that the cases were not yet suspect, stressing tests were being carried out as a precautionary measure. “It’s logical that after human cases were announced, people are worried and go to hospital even when they’ve just got a normal flu,” he said.
His committee, meanwhile, said 121 people who had been in contact with 12 new bird flu outbreaks in eight provinces, including the governorate of Cairo, had tested negative for the infection. Two-thirds of Egypt’s 25 provinces have now been affected by bird flu, it said.
