The Beni Suef health department has declared a state of emergency after claiming to have discovered the governorate's first case of malaria.
However, Egypt's Health ministry has denied the reports, stressing that the country is free of the disease and that it would have announced any cases that had been discovered.
Assistant Health Minister Nasr al-Sayyid denied the supposed discovery of a malaria in Beni Suef or any other governorates.
Magdy Hazin, head of preventive medicine at the Beni Suef health department, said that Ibrahim Taha, 62, from Beba, has been hospitalized at the Fever Hospital in Beni Suef after testing positive for malaria.
Hazin said the patient has started to respond to medication and that samples have been taken from more than 200 of Taha's relatives and sent to Cairo for analysis.
Hazin attributed the infection to the presence of mosquitos and garbage in the area. But he ruled out drinking water as a reason for the man's illness, citing samples taken from the water station near Beba.
Agents from the health department sprayed the village's entrances and exits with pesticides to prevent the infection from spreading to neighboring villages.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
