CAIRO, April 3 (Reuters) - An Egyptian toddler has contracted the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, the latest in an upswing of cases in the most populous Arab country, state news agency MENA said on Friday. The case brings to 62 the number of confirmed cases of the H5N1 avian flu virus in Egypt, which has been hit harder by bird flu than any other country outside of Asia and has reported seven human infections since March 1. The 21-month-old boy, Hassan Gamil Hassan Mohamed, is from the province of Beheira in northern Egypt and was in a "good" condition after being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu, MENA reported. The new infection came several days after a two-year-old boy from the same province contracted the virus. MENA did not say how Mohamed contracted the virus, but most Egyptians who have fallen ill with bird flu are believed to have contracted the virus from infected household birds. Egypt is one of the few countries affected by bird flu that does not compensate farmers when poultry is destroyed, though many experts say this is the best way to ensure the rapid detection of new outbreaks. Since 2003 the H5N1 avian influenza virus has infected at least 410 people in 15 countries and killed 254 of them. It has killed or forced the culling of more than 300 million birds in 61 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Some 23 Egyptians have died after contracting the virus, most after coming into contact with infected domestic birds in a country where roughly 5 million households depend on domestically raised poultry as a significant source of food and income. While H5N1 rarely infects people, experts say they fear it could mutate into a form that people could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston)
A boy rests on his jerry cans as he queues for water near Mogadishu April 3, 2009. Acute watery diarrhoea has killed 35 people, mostly children, in the last week in ...
