CAIRO, May 28 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian boy and a girl have been confirmed of contracting bird flu on Wednesday, bringing the number of cases of the deadly avian influenza to 76 in the populous country, local Al Ahram daily reported Thursday.

    Ahmed Rabie Mohamed, a 4-year-old boy from Sharqeya governorate in the Nile Delta, and Hasnaa Abdul Allah, a 4-year-old girl from the same governorate, were admitted to hospital on Wednesday suffering from symptoms of the virus, the report said.

    It added that the two children"e; condition is stable after being treated with Tamiflu.

    Egypt is the most affected country by the virus outside Asia. It reported its first H5N1 virus in dead poultry in February 2006 and the first human case in March of the same year.

    Most of the victims of the fatal virus in Egypt were girls and young women. Generally, they were in charge of looking after poultry in rural areas.

    Though the H5N1 virus rarely infects people, experts said they fear it could mutate into a form that people could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that maybe kill many in a short time.

Special Report: Worldwide fight against bird flu