The Egyptian Health Ministry reported a human bird flu case on Sunday, bringing the number of such cases to 27 in the country, Egypt's official news agency MENA said.

It is a three-year-old girl who was tested positive to the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahin said.

The girl, identified as Hagar Mohamed Awadallah, came from southern Egyptian governorate of Aswan, about 700 km south of Cairo.

She contracted the virus because of direct contact with infected poultry, said Shahin.

Awadallah was admitted to hospital on Thursday evening because of high fever and other avian flu symptoms, said Shahin, adding the girl was in stable condition after taking the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

Egypt found the first bird flu case in dead poultry on Feb. 17, 2006 and then the fatal disease spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates.

The populous Arab country reported first human bird flu case on March 18 of 2006.

Of the 26 human cases discovered before the latest one, 13 died, 12 recovered while one is under treatment, according to reports of MENA.

Source: Xinhua