CAIRO, Dec 27: An Egyptian man died on Wednesday from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, bringing to three the number of victims in less than a week amid stepped up efforts to contain a resurgence of the epidemic.

Reda Abdel Halim Farid, 26, died in a Cairo hospital, the health ministry announced. He was the third person to die since Sunday. All three were from the same region in the Delta governorate of Gharbiya.

Egypt is the fifth most affected country in the world with a total of 18 human cases and 10 deaths since the virus first appeared in the country in February. It is also the hardest-hit non-Asian country.

“We did expect this to happen,” health ministry adviser Abdel Rahman Shaheen said.

“When we had a period of calm between May and October, people started thinking the disease was over, but we insisted on creating more awareness among the people,” he said.

“We are still expecting more cases but the idea is to keep them to the smallest possible number,” Shaheen added.

The health ministry last month launched a 10-million-dollar awareness campaign on television, radio and in newspapers. Meetings are also held in rural areas to educate the population on the risks of bird flu.—AFP