http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=77009&d=29&m=1&y=2006&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom - http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=77 009&d=29&m=1&y=2006&pix=kingdom.jpg&cate gory=Kingdom

RIYADH, 29 January 2006 — Saudi Arabia has culled 37 falcons after some of them tested positive to the H5 virus of the avian flu, the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday.

A ministry team inspecting falcons kept in a veterinary center in Riyadh, which takes care of the birds that are usually used for hunting, discovered the cases, Saudi Press Agency quoted the ministry statement as saying.

The ministry said the 37 falcons, including the five positive cases “were killed and burned.”

Laboratory tests are being conducted to establish if the cases also test positive for the N virus — “the other component of the (bird flu) virus,” it added.

In November the Kingdom banned all bird imports from neighboring countries. That decision came a day after Kuwait announced a bird stricken with avian flu in the country carried the deadly H5N1 strain, in the first case of its kind in the Gulf. Another bird was found to have the milder H5N2 strain.

Scientists fear that the more the virus spreads, the greater the chance that H5N1 will mutate into a form that is easily transmissible between humans, making it capable of sparking a global pandemic that could claim millions of lives. The toll from the H5N1 strain of bird flu has climbed to 80 people worldwide since 2003.