February 2, 2006

WHO praises swift Iraqi response to bird flu
 

The UN's health agency Wednesday praised Iraq's quick and open response to dealing with its first reported case of the deadly bird flu virus.

Iraqi health authorities have culled more than 500,000 birds in northern Iraq since Monday's announcement of a 15-year-old girl who died in the area Jan 17 had the H5N1 strain of the virus.

Health agencies throughout the country were also quick to notify farmers, poultry owners and practitioners about the discovery of the bird flu case, the first in the Middle East.

"From our point of view, Iraqi authorities have done a very good job in responding to the outbreak and have been very transparent about what is known about the human disease," said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the WHO, from the UN agency's Geneva headquarters.

Many rumours have been circulating throughout northern Iraq about further possible cases of bird flu being contracted, and all such reports will be investigated by WHO experts expected to arrive in the country by the end of this week, Thompson said.

"But people must remember that bird flu is an extremely rare disease and is very difficult to catch," he said.

Detecting the source of the disease and learning how widespread it might be will be the key goals of the WHO team bound for Iraq, Thompson said.