An Egyptian toddler has contracted the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, the latest in an upswing of cases in the most populous Arab country, Reuters quoted state news agency (MENA) as reporting today . The case brings to 62 the number of confirmed cases of the H5N1 avian flu virus in Egypt, which has been hit harder by bird flu than any other country outside of Asia and has reported seven human infections since March 1. The 21-month-old boy, Hassan Gamil Hassan Mohamed, is from the province of Beheira in northern Egypt and was in a "good" condition after being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu, MENA reported. The new infection came several days after a two-year-old boy from the same province contracted the virus. MENA did not say how Mohamed contracted the virus, but most Egyptians who have fallen ill with bird flu are believed to have contracted the virus from infected household birds. Since 2003 the H5N1 avian influenza virus has infected at least 410 people in 15 countries and killed 254 of them. It has killed or forced the culling of more than 300 million birds in 61 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
