February 2, 2006

Iraq culls 500,000 poultry

More than 500,000 poultry have been culled in the past two days across northern Iraq as the country battled to control bird flu. The culling followed Monday's announcement that a 15-year-old girl who died Jan 17 had the deadly H5N1 strain.

Iraqi authorities said they would provide compensation for people who lost their poultry but did not provide specific details.

Health experts are investigating if the virus found in two previous victims had mutated into a more virulent bird flu strain, which could be easily passed between humans.