Fourth bird flu fatality in Egypt

A worker disinfects houses after the third death in March

A fourth person has died in Egypt after being infected with bird flu, the state news agency, Mena, has said.

The victim, an 18-year-old woman from north of Cairo, was admitted to hospital on Monday and found to be suffering from the H5N1 virus.

There have so far been 12 reported cases of human bird flu in Egypt.

Around the world, more than 100 people have died from the H5N1 strain of the disease since 2003 - the majority of them in Asia.

Egypt first reported H5N1 in birds in February. The first human case was reported a month later.

Egypt is a major route for migratory birds and has now joined Turkey as the worst-hit countries outside Asia.

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Nasser Kamel, a spokesman for the Supreme National Committee to Combat Bird Flu, said: "It was an 18-year-old woman from the Menufiya governorate. She was already in bad health when she arrived to hospital."

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The woman, named as Iman Abdel Gawad, was believed to have been handling infected poultry.

Many women in Egypt are responsible for slaughtering domestic birds.

The government has urged more awareness about the dangers of bird flu.

Of the 12 people infected in the country, four have died, five have recovered and three are still receiving treatment, health officials say.

The World Health Organization has expressed concern about the number of deaths in Egypt in a relatively short amount of time.

Egypt responded to the first deaths by culling more than 10 million birds and banning domestic poultry farms.

Cairo Zoo was closed in February after birds there were found to be infected.

So far across the world the disease has mainly affected animals.

But experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between humans, possibly sparking a pandemic.

However, there is no evidence that this has happened yet.