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Bird Flu Kills Egyptian Girl

update

Egypt says a teenage girl has died from the H5N1 bird flu virus -- the country's 12th death from the disease since it was first detected there a year ago.

The official Middle East News Agency, MENA, Monday identified the victim as a 17-year-old from Fayoum, south of Cairo. Authorities believe she came in contact with sick birds. It is unclear when she died.

Meanwhile, Russia and Japan have imposed bans on British poultry following a bird flu outbreak on a turkey farm in eastern England.

Authorities slaughtered about 160-thousand turkeys as a precaution and imposed an exclusion zone around the farm.

British Environment Secretary David Miliband calls the risk to human health negligible and said the government's response was rapid and appropriate.

Bird flu has killed at least 165 people worldwide since 2003. Most of the victims lived in Indonesia.

Medical experts say human cases are rare, but fear the H5N1 virus could mutate into a human form and trigger a global pandemic.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

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