29 December 2006
Three People Dead in Egypt, Raising Human Avian Flu Toll to 157
World Bank gives $28 million in grants to help 13 nations fight influenza
Washington - Three members of an extended family have died in Egypt after being infected with H5N1 avian influenza, bringing the human toll in that nation to 18 cases and 10 deaths since February, and the total worldwide since 2003 to 261 cases and 157 deaths.
The Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratory said clinical specimens from the three cases tested positive for avian influenza (H5N1) virus, and the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 in Cairo, Egypt, detected the virus in specimens from two of the patients.
The samples have been sent to a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating center for testing and to characterize the virus.
"Our understanding is that there is exposure to sick poultry, in this case ducks, by the people that became ill," said John Rainford, a spokesman at WHO headquarters in Geneva, in a December 29 USINFO interview.
When a link is established between infected individuals and sick birds or very close human contact, Rainford added, "the concern level drops away from this being a virus that has mutated into something more dangerous than what we're seeing in many countries around the world, including Egypt, over the past several years."
Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among people, initiating a pandemic that researchers estimate could kill millions of people, many in the developing world, and have dire effects on social and economic systems.
POULTRY-RELATED DEATHS
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population reported that all three deceased individuals came from a 33-member extended family in Gharbiyah province, 80 kilometers northwest of Cairo.
While being cared for at the country's designated avian influenza hospital, a 30-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man died. The most recent death occurred December 27.
News reports said the man and woman were siblings and the girl was their niece. All reportedly had contact with sick ducks.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population and WHO are continuing to investigate the deaths and have initiated public health measures. The other family members remain healthy and are under close observation.
"That's an ongoing process we would expect to take a bit of time," Rainford said, "to make sure we have a full and broad understanding of how people may have been exposed, who else in the household may have been exposed and what kind of interactions they may have had in the community. That will help the experts on the ground understand things better."
Avian influenza has reached more than 50 countries, and millions of chickens have died or been culled to prevent the spread of the virus to other poultry farms. Estimated related financial losses are in the tens of billions of dollars.
WORLD BANK FLU GRANTS
The World Bank's Avian and Human Influenza (AHI) Facility announced December 28 that six grants with a total value of $28 million have been approved to help 13 countries in five regions fight the threat posed by avian and human influenza.
The facility, a grant-making mechanism supported by the European Commission and seven other donors, helps countries implement action plans to reduce the social and economic impact of avian influenza and minimize the possible outbreak of a human flu pandemic.
"The bank is pleased that these grants are designed to foster intra-regional cooperation, given the emerging threats of trans-boundary animal health issues," said AHI Facility Administrator David Potten in a December 28 World Bank statement.
Vietnam will receive $10 million to provide for early detection and response to human cases and to prepare for medical consequences of a possible human pandemic; Indonesia will receive $10 million to reduce the amount of virus circulating in the environment and its possible mutation to a form easily transmissible among people.
Afghanistan will receive $5 million to control infections among birds and domestic poultry and to prepare responses to possible human infection and related emergencies, and Tajikistan will receive $1.5 million to minimize the threat to humans by highly pathogenic avian influenza infection and other animal diseases.
The Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance will receive $500,000 to help facilitate information exchanges among Jordan, Israel and West Bank and Gaza; and $500,000 will help strengthen the Southern Agricultural Council for Avian Flu Preparedness in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
More information on U.S. and international efforts on avian influenza is available on a Web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For ongoing coverage of the disease and efforts to combat it, see Bird Flu (Avian Influenza).
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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