3 of Egypt family test positive for bird flu

The WHO earlier said a brother, 26, and sister, 15, had the virus and then said a third relative, a woman aged 30, had contracted it.

All three are from the same extended family of 33 living in a single house in a village near the town of Zifta in Gharbiya province, about 80km north of Cairo, Hassan el-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance at the WHO, said.

Bushra said the family raised ducks, and the brother and sister had slaughtered the flock after a number of ducks had become sick and died.

The three have been moved to a hospital in Cairo and have been treated with the drug Tamiflu, with the rest of the family being kept under close medical surveillance, Bushra said.