Two children bring Egypt bird flu cases to 29

Two Egyptian children have been infected with avian flu, the health ministry announced on Tuesday, bringing to 29 the number of infections reported since the virus appeared in the country a year ago.

Rihab Mahmud Helmi, a six-year-old girl, and Mahmud Gomaa Mohammed, a five-year-old boy, have been brought to Cairo for treatment, ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shaheen told AFP.

The children -- from separate southern Egyptian cities -- are in stable condition and being treated with the Tamiflu drug. Their families are under observation.

The announcement comes only two days after another child, three-year-old Hagar Mohammed Awadallah from the southern city of Aswan, was diagnosed with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus.

Shaheen added that Awadallah's condition is improving.

Egypt's position on major bird migration routes and the widespread practice of keeping domestic fowl close to living quarters have helped the Arab world's most populous nation to the highest human death toll from avian flu outside Asia.

So far 13 people have died from the virus since it first appeared in Egypt in February 2006.

Women and young children, often charged with caring for the birds, have borne the brunt of the disease.