EGYPT - OIE has received an official report that avian flu is endemic.

Officials in Egypt earlier his week filed a report with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) updating the Organisation on all H5N1 outbreaks that have occurred in the country since February.

The report formally declares that the disease is endemic in Egyptian poultry flocks.

It stated that Egypt will now file updates on its H5N1 outbreaks only every 6 months instead of submitting more frequent follow-up reports.

In the summary, it is stated that 1086 outbreaks of avian flu caused by the H5N1 virus sub-type have been reported since February 2006. The official record describes the outbreaks across the whole country although most cases have been concentrated in the Nile Delta region.

More than one million poultry have died and 8.9 million more have been destroyed.