# 542
After a bad run of fatalities in Egypt late last year and early this year, several involving a Tamiflu resistant form of the H5N1 virus, Egypt now is reporting the second `cure' in a row. This time, of a 4-year-old girl who was first reported to have been infected in late February.
A month ago, many flu watchers were fearing that the Egyptian strain of the virus had mutated, and we were facing a virus that could replicate unchecked by our best anti-viral medicine. Back-to-back success stories would seem to put those concerns on the back burner for now.
Tamiflu resistance may pop up again, but for now, the drug appears to be working in Egypt.
And that is very good news, indeed.
Egyptian girl recovers from bird flu
A four-year-old Egyptian girl who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus several days ago recovered on Monday after receiving due medical treatment, a health official said.
Sarah Borhan, from Daqahlia Governorate, 90 km north of Cairo, was discharged from hospital after taking Tamiflu tablets, the official MENA news agency quoted local hospital director Yousri Ragab as saying.
Suffering from high temperature after contacting infected domestic poultry, Borhan was admitted to the Mansoura Chest Hospital on Feb. 26, Ragab said.
Borhan had been the 23rd human bird flu case since the H5N1 virus was first detected in dead poultry in Egypt on Feb. 17, 2006. The virus has since then spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates.
Egypt reported the first human bird flu case on March 18, 2006. Of the 23 human bird flu cases, 13 people died and 10 recovered.
Source: Xinhua
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