# 358
There's an old joke that says not to worry until officials tell you `there's no need to panic'. Apparently, this truism isn't well known in the mid-east. In any event, this story comes from the online edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
My thanks to David for sending me this link.
'No need to panic'
Reem Leila reports on attempts to contain a fresh outbreak of Avian Flu
Measures being taken to contain the spread of Avian Flu
Egypt is preparing itself for a new outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu strain which has now mutated into a form displaying moderate resistance to the frontline antiviral Tamiflu.
Warda Eid Ahmed, 27, from Beni Sweif, succumbed to the disease earlier this month despite being treated with Tamiflu. Her death brings the total number of fatalities among the 19 people who have contracted the virus since March 2006 to 11.
Ahmed died two days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that a medication-resistant strain of the virus was responsible for the last two deaths in Egypt. Samples taken from the two patients, a 16- year-old girl and her 26-year-old uncle from Gharbiya Governorate, 90 kilometres north of Cairo, both showed the mutated 294S strain of the virus.
Governments around the world have been stockpiling Tamiflu in case the H5N1 virus mutates and becomes easily transmissible among humans, "sparking a pandemic which could kill millions of people" warns El-Bushra.
<snip>
Despite the handful of cases showing the virus has undergone genetic mutation, there is no indication that Tamiflu resistance is widespread in Egypt or elsewhere. Abdel-Rahman Shaheen, the Health Ministry's official spokesman, declared in a press conference last Saturday that the mutations are not associated with any known change in the transmissibility of the virus among humans, which limits the public health implications of the mutant strain. There is no need, says Shaheen, for a change in the pandemic preparedness level. Egypt has large stocks of both Tamiflu and Adamine. "There is no need to panic, everything is under control," he said.
Read the rest HERE
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