February 27, 2007

Kuwait discovers 12 more bird flu cases

Kuwait confirmed Monday (Feb 26) 12 more cases of the deadly strain of bird flu in chicken and turkeys, raising the number of recent cases to 32.

"Bird flu was discovered in three turkeys and nine chickens in home pens," said Ahmed al-Shatti, a spokesman for the Health Ministry. He said tests in local labs on samples from the birds showed they were infected with the H5N1 strain.

The turkeys and the chicken came from small farm houses in Wafra, south of Kuwait City, and the northern district of Doha, he said.

All poultry in these farm houses have been culled, and people who came in contact with the birds were given precautionary medication, al-Shatti added.

The Health Ministry closed Kuwait Zoo and the bird markets on Sunday, and banned all imports and exports of birds, after tests confirmed 20 cases of bird flu in falcons, chickens and turkeys.

After bird flu broke out in Asian poultry farms in 2003, this small, oil-rich country activated a national plan for dealing with the disease.

Before the current outbreak, Kuwait had discovered only one case of the deadly strain of bird flu in a migrating flamingo in 2005.