Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el- Gabali said Monday that a third suspected human bird flu infection was reported in northern Egypt, the official MENA news agency reported.

El-Gabali told reporters that the infected patient was a 30- year-old woman who was raising poultry inside her house and had personally culled the birds 15 days ago in the governorate of Qalyoubia, some 40 km north of Cairo.

The woman, identified as Fatma Mohamed Youssef Sabri, is now in the intensive care unit of a Cairo hospital, said MENA.

Following the first human case of bird flu was reported in Egypt on Friday, three suspected human cases of the highly contagious disease have been reported in the populous north African country.

The first bird flu victim was also a 30-year-old woman from the same governorate of Qalyoubia, who died of the H5N1 virus early Friday morning.

The second suspected case was a young man who was said to have recovered from the disease.

Egypt reported its first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu among wild birds and poultry on Feb. 17 and the government has since launched an aggressive campaign to bring the spread of the disease under control.

The deadly H5N1 strain has killed over 90 people worldwide since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Most victims were infected after close contact with sick birds.

The virus currently can only jump from birds to humans, but scientists fear that it could mutate into a form capable of passing easily among humans and thus spark a global human flu pandemic.

Source: Xinhua