Egypt's ministry of health on Monday confirmed that a four-year-old girl has been infected with the deadly bird flu virus. With her infection the total number of cases in the Arab world's most populous nation is at 44.

The young girl was detected with the avian flu virus in Minya, approximately 160 miles south of Cairo, ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shaheen told the official news agency MENA

A dozen samples of bird flu virus were sent to the World Health Organization laboratory this week by Indonesia after being guaranteed of recognition and its rights to any vaccines produced from them, a health minister official said.

Indonesia had stopped sending samples to WHO since December 2006 because it wanted guarantees that vaccines developed from the virus will be made affordable to poor and developing countries

Still reeling from the death of a 22-year-old man in central Hunan, Chinese authorities reported a fresh bird flu outbreak among poultry in Tibet.

In a statement, the agriculture ministry said 132 poultry had died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in a village outside the regional capital Lhasa and about 7,700 birds had been slaughtered to control the second outbreak of bird flu in the Himalayan region this year

Because of the weak demand for camera supplies as more consumers shift to digital photography, Japanese firm Fujifilm is shifting to pharmaceuticals. The company announced it will purchase 66 percent of Toyama Chemical Company that is experimenting on an influenza medicine capable of battling bird flu.

Following the announcement of Fujifilm's diversification, its price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange went up Tuesday by 1 percent to $36.69 (3,940 yen) per share, while Toyama shares were constant at $8.14 (874 yen) per share

Pakistani authorities confirmed on Monday a fresh outbreak of the bird flu virus at a poultry farm in the country's port city Karachi. The presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu was detected at a poultry farm, run by a paramilitary group in Guddap.

The group's spokesman Major Asad Ali confirmed a blood sample sent to Islamabad tested positive on Monday. Authorities at the farm have killed around 4,000 birds since the confirmation