A 15-year-old Egyptian girl who tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus has died in hospital, bringing the number of deaths from the disease in Egypt to 14, the health ministry said today.
A ministry statement said Marianna Kameel Mikhail, who was admitted to hospital in Cairo on Thursday, died of respiratory failure on Tuesday evening despite being treated with the antiviral Tamiflu and being placed on a respirator.
None of her family was found to have bird flu, it added.
"This case is the 14th death from 34 cases of bird flu infection since the disease appeared in Egypt in February 2006," the statement said.
READ MORE
Egypt has the highest number of confirmed human bird flu cases outside Asia.