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   Bird flu fears spread to southern Iraq

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Updated 2006-02-07 14:38:35

Man who owned pigeons with deadly H5N1 strain dies with bird flu-like 

symptoms in Amara.

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By Fadel Mushatat - AMARA, Iraq

The death in southern Iraq of a man with bird flu-like symptoms who 

owned pigeons with the deadly H5N1 strain has spurred fears the disease 

is spreading from the Kurdish north.

The man who died in the city of Amara owned two pigeons which tested 

positive for the H5N1 strain, making him the first suspected human case 

of bird flu outside Kurdistan where two people have died of the disease.

On Monday, Ibtisam Aziz, head of a committee set up to fight the virus, 

said the virus was still confined to a village in the Raniya area of 

Sulaimaniyah province where the first case involving a teenage girl was 

confirmed.

Four people are currently under observation in Kurdistan as suspected 

bird flu patients, officials said Tuesday.

Adel Muhajir al-Maliki, governor of Amara, said the man was admitted to 

a city hospital suffering from the flu but was discharged after five days 

and subsequently died at home on Sunday.

"We suspect he died of bird flu as our investigations revealed that he had 

birds at home," Maliki said.

Dawood Mohammed Sharif, head of Baghdad's veterinary laboratory, said 

samples from the man's two pigeons had tested positive for H5N1.

"The samples of the pigeons have been sent to Cairo for further tests," 

Sharif said, while the governor added that samples taken from the man 

were dispatched to Baghdad.

Jon C. Bowersox, health attache at the US embassy in Iraq, has warned 

against hunting birds.

"Birds that are migrating down from the north could be infected and some 

people make their income by hunting birds. It is not simply a matter of 

chicken," Bowersox said.

In Kirkuk, just south of the Kurdish provinces, rumors are rampant of 

avian flu cases being covered up by the local government and the price of 

a chicken has plummeted to a mere 500 dinars (0.33 dollars).

In the city of Sulaimaniyah five people earlier suspected of suffering from 

bird flu were released Tuesday after their health improved following 

treatment, senior health official Mohammed Khushnow said.

Of the five, Sabria Mohammed, a 40-year-old woman, was a carrier of 

H5N1 but her health improved after she was treated with the anti-avian 

influenza drug Tamiflu, he said.

On Monday, Iraq confirmed its second human death from bird flu in the 

Kurdish north.

Hamma Sur Abdullah, 40, who died of flu-like symptoms a little over a 

week after his niece, was confirmed by a lab in Cairo as having died of the 

same cause.

A few days after Abdullah's death, the World Health Organisation (WHO) 

lab confirmed that the girl, Shajin Abdel Qader, had died of bird flu.

Two WHO teams, meanwhile, were out in the field in Kurdistan on 

Tuesday assessing the capacity of the region's medical and veterinary 

services to tackle the threat.

A consignment of masks, gloves and gowns was also being shipped out 

from the United States to help Iraqi doctors tackle any larger outbreak.

"At the moment this is an agricultural emergency," Sam Yingst, one of the 

WHO team members, said on Sunday.

"But we believe that there is a possibility that it may become a human 

public emergency though it will require a significant change in the nature 

of the virus."

In the eastern province of Diyala along the Iranian border, health ministry 

officials were spreading disinfectant Monday around poultry-producing 

areas.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=15680

Edited by Rick