(adds background) CAIRO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - An Egyptian woman died from bird flu on Friday after six days in hospital, the state news agency MENA said. The virus has now killed 11 people in Egypt, which has the largest cluster of human bird flu cases outside Asia. Eight other people who tested positive have recovered since the virus first surfaced in Egyptian poultry in February. Warda Eid Ahmed, 27, from Beni Suef province, south of Cairo, was transferred to hospital in the capital on Jan. 13 suffering from pneumonia. A Health Ministry spokesman said earlier in the week she had raised hens in her house. The ministry has dispatched a team to take samples from the rest of her family, he said. MENA quoted Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahim Shahin on Friday as saying said she was the 11th person in Egypt to die from bird flu out of 19 human cases. Three people from one family, including a 15-year-old girl, died of the virus in December, raising fears about the possibility of human-to-human transmission. Bird flu has killed at least 161 people worldwide since 2003, according to the most recent World Health Organisation figures. There are fears that millions could die if the virus were to mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person.
