A parliamentary report criticises official reactions to the bird flu crisis, reports Reem Leila Last week 27-year-old Samah Abdel-Ghaffar Mohamed became Egypt's fifth victim of bird flu, and the first in Cairo. Mohamed contracted the disease while visiting her home village of Al-Batanoun in Al-Menoufiya, where for four days she came in direct contact with infected poultry. A Ministry of Health statement says Mohamed was admitted to hospital in Cairo after developing avian flu symptoms. An X-ray revealed inflammation of both lungs. Eight other cases of bird flu in humans reported in Egypt have now fully recovered. Egypt's recovery rate is lower than the 50 per cent recorded by other countries where the H5N1 virus has been detected though Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen says "the virus is being monitored closely and is under control." The prevalence of the virus in rural areas has surprised many. According to a report prepared by the ministries of agriculture and health, in conjunction with the parliamentary Agriculture Committee, it suggests that domestic poultry, and not wild birds, account for the spread of the highly pathogenic virus. There is no scientific proof that migrating wild birds brought the deadly virus to the country, says the report. If that were the case, then coastal cities would have been the first to be infected. So far, though, they remain free of infection while the majority of human and poultry H5N1 cases have been detected in rural areas. Governor of Giza Fathi Saad, the Ministry of Agriculture's representative in the committee, stressed in the report that H5N1 is indigenous in Egypt, appearing every year in winter and autumn. Normally, though, it would disappear from the country in the summer due to the high temperatures. The report also drew attention to the role to be played by Vaccera, the national vaccine institute, hinting that its recent concentration on profit and meeting short-term market demands could have compromised its ability to face potential epidemics such as avian flu by producing vaccines and anti- viral drugs in sufficient quantities. "I don't think the situation is as grave as it appears to be," says Shaheen, "but nor do I think any government, here or elsewhere, will shy away from imposing whatever precautionary measures are needed." Last month the Ministry of Agriculture began working with Vaccera on a programme to produce anti-viral drugs and vaccines. Mohamed El-Shafei, vice- head of the Poultry Union, argues that while the virus is retreating in Egypt it has nothing to do with preventative measures taken by the authorities but with the mass culling of an estimated 34 million birds. "Egypt has lost 75 per cent of its egg- laying flocks and 50 per cent of all fowl. Since there is almost no poultry in the country, infection rates of bird flu are decreasing." The report highlights the disastrous decision to import Chinese-made H5N1 vaccine rather than the cheaper European H5N2 and H5N9 vaccines. The latter two, used in Europe and Israel, eliminated the virus within a matter of days. Yet, as Saad notes, the Supreme National Committee to Combat Bird Flu (SNCCBF) recommended the import of the H5N1 vaccine. Costing $6 per bottle, it was sold on to poultry breeders for LE425. Instead of immunising poultry the vaccine spread the virus. Every farm where birds were vaccinated with the H5N1 vaccine has been infected with the deadly avian flu virus. The SNCCBF has now recommended the import of the H5N2 vaccine. "Within a few days it will be in Egypt in sufficient quantities to totally eradicate the virus," says Saad. The report has also raised the issue of importing the H5N1 vaccine for $6 per bottle and selling it for LE425 to poultry breeders, Saad confirmed that the SNCCBF is a technical committee which is concerned with human health and poultry industry only. The report stated that fowls which have been vaccinated with H5N1 in all of poultry farms have been infected with the deadly avian flu virus instead of being immunised against it. Saad illustrated that it requires a vaccinated bird in order to build strong immunity against the disease a period that ranges three to four weeks, during this period the bird's immunity is still weak and can contract the disease. "The SNCCBF noticed that immunised birds have contracted the disease during this period. Therefore it was normal for the birds to be dead," he added.
