Egypt - the epicentre

Egypt's H5N1 avian influenza case count: What we know today

The Egyptian health ministry reported nine more H5N1 avian influenza infections that occurred in March to the World Health Organization (WHO), a sign that a surge in infections with the lethal virus that began last fall is still ongoing.

In an update today from its Eastern Mediterranean regional office, the WHO said the new cases lift Egypt's total for the year so far to 125 cases, 33 of them fatal. The fatality count, however, is 3 fewer than reported in the last WHO update on Mar 21. The agency said the H5N1 total for March alone is 30 cases, 4 of them fatal.

Though it is sometime difficult to gauge the number of H5N1 infections occurring in Egypt, the new total from the WHO is very close to a running tally kept by *******, an infectious disease news message board that collects, translates, and posts individual reports of H5N1 cases that come from official sources. *******' latest count, which includes some cases reported in first week of April, is at 135 cases so far this year.

The gush of cases in Egypt is unprecedented for H5N1 and has vaulted the country past Indonesia to the nation with the most cases. Indonesia still has the most deaths from the disease.