February 6, 2006

 

US, UN officials arrive in Iraq to battle bird flu
 

 

US and UN health experts arrived in Iraq to help this war-ravaged country fight a new battle - bird flu - and officials said Sunday that at least eight people are in hospital suffering symptoms akin to the deadly H5N1 strain.

 

US and World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologists, veterinary experts and clinicians are expected to work together across the northern region of Kurdistan to find out how the disease entered Iraq and ways to contain it.

 

The Middle East's first case of the virus appeared in a 15-year-old girl from the Kurdistan town of Raniya who died Jan 17. It is unclear if she contracted the disease from domestic or migratory birds.

 

Her uncle who shared the same house, in which live chickens were brought in to protect them from the cold, died after suffering pulmonary complications. That raised fears that he also contracted the virus from a bird or, possibly, directly from his niece.

 

If it was the latter, it could mean that the bird flu virus has mutated into a strain capable of sparking a worldwide pandemic.

 

Scientists in Cairo and London are awaiting samples from the uncle to learn whether the girl's uncle had the known H5NI avian influenza strain contracted directly from birds.

 

Iraqi health authorities confirmed Jan 30 that the girl contracted bird flu and immediately implemented a mass culling of domestic birds across northern Iraq's Kurdistan region, killing more than 500,000 in a bid to contain the disease.

 

Health officials have also raised the alarm throughout the country, particularly in southern Iraq, where migratory birds possibly carrying the H5N1 strain fly en-route to Kuwait and eventually South Africa.

  

Health experts stress that Iraqis run a slim chance of contracting bird flu, but said more effort is needed to promote safe hygiene practices and better equip cullers and people dealing closely with domestic birds.

 

On Friday, the WHO said a large shipment of the anti-flu drug, Tamiflu, is being sent to Iraq to treat up to 10,000 people.