(AP) An Egyptian toddler has been infected with the virulent strain of bird flu, bringing the number of human cases in the country to nine, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly said in a report by the state-run Middle East News Agency that the 16-month-old girl, from the southern city of Sohag, showed symptoms of the disease and was admitted to a hospital on Sunday in stable condition. Tests proved positive on Tuesday.

El-Gabaly said the girl's mother bred chickens in the house, and some of them were found dead. Other members of the family were being checked to see if anyone was infected with the virus.

Nine people in Egypt have been stricken with the deadly H5N1 virus since early March. Two of them _ both women in their 30s _ died; two others have recovered and the rest are still being treated in hospitals.

The deadly bird flu virus has been detected in fowl in nineteen of Egypt's 26 provinces, the agency said. Egypt is on a main route for migratory birds, at the crossroads between Asia and Africa.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu, its most aggressive form, has killed over 100 people worldwide and led to the culling of million of birds.

In other developments around the world Wednesday:

_ A 12-year-old boy died from suspected bird flu in Cambodia. If confirmed by the World Health Organization, he would be the country's sixth victim from the deadly H5N1 virus, health officials said.

_ German authorities confirmed the nation's first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in domestic fowl, saying the virus was found at a poultry farm in the east of the country.

_ British authorities confirmed bird flu in a dead swan found in a Scottish village, but more tests were needed to determine whether it was the H5N1 strain.

_ Half a million chickens in Gaza must be slaughtered because of exposure to bird flu, United Nations officials said. A quarter of a million chickens have already been killed. Bird flu was discovered in Israeli villages nearby last month, before spreading to Gaza. Almost 1 million birds have been slaughtered in Israel.

_ The European Union extended until the end of July restrictions on poultry imports from Turkey, Romania and Croatia because of concern over bird flu.