A new human bird flu case was confirmed in central Egypt on Wednesday, bringing the number of human bird flu cases to 21 in the populous Arab nation, the official news agency MENA reported.

According to Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen, the latest case was a 37-year-old woman, identified as Nadia Mohammed Abdel-Hafez. She came from Fayoum, a countryside town located some 85 km south of Cairo.

Abdel-Hafez checked into Fayoum's fever hospital on Monday after suffering from high temperature and pneumonia, said the spokesman.

She was later admitted to a Cairo hospital and her condition was stable. She was given necessary vaccine, said Shaheen, adding the woman's family would also be examined.

Egypt found the first bird flu case in dead poultry on Feb. 17, 2006 and then the virus spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates.

The populous Arab country reported first human bird flu case on March 18 of 2006. Before the latest case in Fayoum, 20 human cases of the disease have been reported in the country, of which 12 have died of the fatal virus and the other eight recovered.

Source: Xinhua