Egypt has 'second bird flu case'

The arrival of bird flu in Egypt last month caused panic

Egypt has reported a second suspected human case of bird flu, a day after it announced that a 30-year-old woman is thought to have died from the virus.

The health ministry says a man was admitted to hospital on Thursday after suffering symptoms of the disease, and has since recovered.

Both cases of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the virus originated in the Qaliubiya region, north of Cairo.

Further tests are being carried out to confirm the virus in both cases.

Drug treatment

The official Mena news agency said that the 28-year-old man was treated with the drug Tamiflu and appeared to have recovered.

Egypt said on Saturday that a woman who maintained a domestic bird farm despite a ban on the practice had died of a fever at Cairo's main hospital a day earlier.

Last month, the government ordered the slaughter of all poultry kept in homes, as part of efforts to stop the spread of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

The H5N1 strain has killed at least 90 people since early 2003, mostly in South-East Asia.

The virus can infect humans in close contact with birds. There is still no evidence that it can be passed from human to human.