Egyptian health authorities announceda new human bird flu case in a central Egyptian governorate, theofficial MENA news agency reported yesterday.

Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahin was quoted assaying that a 75-year-old woman from the governorate of Minya,some 220 km south of Cairo, contracted the deadly H5N1 strain ofbird flu virus due to direct contact with backyard poultry.The woman was hospitalized on May 12 and has been treated withanti-viral Tamiflu drug, said the spokesman.

It was the 14th human case since the outbreak of the deadlydisease in Egypt in March, he said.

Out of the 13 cases reported before the new case, five havedied and the other eight have recovered.

Egypt reported its first human bird flu case on March 18 afterthe country found its first outbreak in poultry on Feb. 17.

The Egyptian government has since taken tough measures to curbthe spread of the fatal disease, which has killed over 100 peopleworldwide since its latest outbreak in southeast Asia in late 2003.

Most victims were infected after close contact with sick birds.The virus currently can only jump from birds to humans, butscientists fear that it could mutate into a form capable ofpassing easily among humans and thus spark a global pandemic.