A teacher has died of bird flu in the Upper Egypt governorate of Sohag on Thursday, bringing the country’s 2014 death toll from the disease to eight.

The home economics teacher was transferred to a hospital earlier this week but efforts to treat her failed; she is the first avian influenza case to die in the governorate.

Another infected teacher is currently being treated in Sohag, deputy health minister Abdel-Aziz Atia told Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website.

The last patient infected by the deadly H5N1 virus died on 3 December in Minya governorate also in Upper Egypt.

At least 15 infections have been identified by Egypt’s health ministry this year. The ministry has announced preventative measures taken to combat the disease’s spread and assured that anti-viral medication use to treat bird flu, Tamiflu is available in public hospitals across Egypt.

In Egypt, most cases of bird flu have been identified in rural areas, where villagers tend to raise poultry in their homes, increasing exposure to live or dead infected birds.