CAIRO - EGYPT'S health ministry announced on Sunday that an 18-month-old boy has contracted the bird flu virus, state news agency MENA reported.

The boy, Suleiman Abul Wafa, was taken to hospital and was in stable condition, MENA reported.

He had first shown signs of illness on Friday, the report said, after he was exposed to dead birds.

The case is the 55th reported since the first outbreak of the disease in the country in 2006. Twenty-three people have died of bird flu in Egypt.

Most of the victims have been young girls or women, who are generally charged with looking after poultry in the countryside.

Egypt hosted an international conference on bird flu in October at which Washington pledged an additional 320 million dollars to the fight against the disease amid fears it may yet escalate into a global pandemic.

The H5N1 strain of the virus that is most dangerous to humans first emerged in Asia in 2003 and has since caused nearly 250 deaths, according to World Health Organisation figures.

Scientists fear that a mutation of the bird flu virus resulting in a strain easily transmitted among humans could create a pandemic, potentially affecting up to one-fifth of the world's population. -- AFP