The Egyptian Health Ministry reported a new bird flu human case on Monday, bringing the number of bird flu human cases to 26 in this populous Arab nation, the official news agency MENA reported.

The report quoted Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Abdel- Rahman Shaheen as saying that two-year-old boy Youssif Mohamed Mahmoud from southern Egyptian governorate of Aswan, about 700 km south of Cairo, was tested positive to the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Shaheen said that Mahmoud was in stable condition after receiving the antiviral drug Tamiflu since he was admitted to hospital on Friday.

The boy contracted the virus because of direct contact with sick poultry, according to the spokesman.

Among the previous 25 human cases discovered before the latest one in Aswan, 13 died, 10 recovered while the other two are under treatment, including a four-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl.

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.

Source: Xinhua