Cairo - A four-year-old girl from southern Egypt has been diagnosed as having contracted the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, the health ministry announced on Tuesday.

The girl was admitted to hospital on Monday with a high temperature in Menya before being transferred to Cairo for further treatment, the official MENA news agency quoted ministry spokesman Abdul-Rahman Shahin as saying.

She became the 44th case of the virus reported in Egypt since the first outbreak was announced in February 2006.

A total of 19 people have died from the virulent strain. Four people died at the start of 2008, although no fatalities have been reported over the past six months.
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