CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's health ministry announced the death on Friday of a woman from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the 22nd human death from the disease since it was discovered here in 2006.

"Walaa Ahmed Abdel Geleel, 30, died on Friday, the 22nd death from bird flu from among 49 cases in the country since the disease was first discovered (in Egypt), a ministry official told the MENA news agency.

She first showed signs of infection on April 2 and was taken on April 9 to a Cairo hospital, where she died, MENA reported.

Abdel Geleel's case was Egypt's second death from the disease in a week.

On Saturday, Mohammed Idris Hassan Ibrahim, 19, from the Nile Delta province of Beheira, died in hospital after being unuccessully treated with Tamiflu.

In January, four people died of the disease in just one week, after safety precautions had been relaxed in the belief that the virus had disappeared when no case had been reported for six months.

Egypt's location on major bird migration routes and the widespread practice of keeping domestic fowl near living quarters have led to it being the hardest-hit country outside Asia.

Despite a government ban on raising poultry on rooftops -- an age-old tradition in Egypt -- chicken, ducks and geese continue to exist on many rooftops, alongside a multitude of pigeon coops.

The government says it is conducting a vigorous campaign to combat the spread of the virus through vaccinations and raising awareness, but experts and officials have warned against people dropping their guard.

Earlier this year, Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali warned against slackness in the preventative measures taken to fight bird flu.

Health ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahin has repeatedly urged the public to remain vigilant and deplored the relaxation of precautions.

Officials have also warned sick people that failure to report they have been in contact with contaminated domestic fowl makes it more difficult to detect the virus and to treat it.

Many of those infected are fearful of revealing their symptoms as they would lose a source of revenue and they fear the anger of their neighbours throughout the village who may have their flocks slaughtered.

As a result, many sufferers are often hospitalised too late for medical treatment to work.

Women and children have borne the brunt of the virus because of their role in taking care of domestic fowl.

A national campaign to slaughter possibly infected birds is more often than not seen as a threat from authorities in which people have no faith.

The authorities recommend eating factory farmed chicken whose origins can be traced. Almost two years since H5N1 appeared in Egypt, the country has become one of the most affected in the world.

The WHO said earlier this year that countries around the world had improved their defences against bird flu, but the situation remained critical in Egypt and Indonesia where the risk of the H5N1 virus mutating into a major human threat remains high.