(Adds details of case, background)

CAIRO, April 11 (Reuters) - An Egyptian woman died of bird flu on Friday, the 22nd fatality and the 49th case of the disease among humans in Egypt, the state news agency MENA said.

Wala Ahmed Abdel Galil, 30, from the northeast Cairo suburb of Mataria, fell ill after coming into contact with sick domestic birds, the agency said, quoting the Ministry of Health.

The woman showed symptoms of the deadly viral disease on April 2 and was taken to a specialist chest hospital in Cairo on Wednesday. Doctors had been treating her with Tamiflu, the standard treatment for bird flu, the ministry added.

Seven Egyptians have died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu during the winter season now closing, less than in the previous winter. The virus, which first appeared in Egypt in February 2006, tends to be less active in summer.

About 5 million households in Egypt depend on poultry as a main source of food and income, and the government has said this makes it unlikely the disease can be eradicated despite a large-scale poultry vaccination programme.

Deaths from bird flu total more than 230 worldwide since 2003 and have been reported in several African and Asian countries. Egypt has been the worst-hit country outside Asia. (Writing by Jonathan Wright, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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