But that was a year or more ago, wasn't it? How is that powerful infrastructure now after the revolution towards the 7th century?
A very good question.
While most of Egypt crumbles, the H5N1 reporting system in Egypt is the best in the world. (In my head I can hear MA saying that there are no coincidences).
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These mild cases raise concerns that they may represents a small tip of a very large iceberg. In the spring of 2007 there were also mild cases, when 16/17 patients survived. However, the demographic was different. 16/17 of the cases were children between the ages of 3-10. Thus, the change in demographic from children in the spring of 2007 to toddlers in 2009 is significant and represents real data.
The concern of significant spread is also supported by the clustering of clusters. The two cases (#61 and #62) identified at the beginning of this month were cousins and next door neighbors in Kom Hadash in Beheira. The four day spread in disease onset date indicated the index case #61 infected his cousin, #62.
That cluster was followed by the formation of a similar cluster (case #64 and #66) in Kafr el Sheikh in a small district, Kellin. It remains unclear if these two cases were related or neighbors, but the two cases had disease onset dates separated by 8 days, and the cluster signals for efficient transmission of H5N1 to humans.
In addition, the other two cases this month (case #63 and #65) were from northern Cairo and admitted to the same hospital. Treatment was delayed after admission, suggesting the patients denied poultry contact.