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A man showing symptoms
of bird flu died in Iraqi Kurdistan and his samples
have been sent to Jordan for testing.
Hamma Sour Abdullah, 40, died Friday in Sulaimaniyah.
He was the uncle of a 14-year-old girl, who also
died flu-like symptoms, but who subsequent tests
established did not have the H5N1 virus.
"We decided to send the samples of the man to the
WHO laboratory in Amman to make sure that he had not
died of H5N1 virus," Imad Ahmad, a senior official
with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party
administering the city, told reporters Saturday.
He said Abdullah died after suffering for a few days
from a pulmonary infection.
Turkey, which has 21 cases of the flu, is the only
country outside the Far East that has reported
fatalities from the virus.
Health officials in Iraq's three Kurdish provinces,
which border Turkey, say a number of measures are
being taken to stop the spread of the virus. These
include decontaminating trucks crossing the border,
banning the import of Turkish poultry and
prohibiting the sale of live chickens inside
Kurdistan.
There is also a major public awareness campaign
urging people to take precautions, including cooking
instructions to minimize the risk of infection.
Iraq's Kurdish provinces are a major poultry
producing region supplying chickens and eggs for
much of the rest of the country.
Scientists fear that the more the virus spreads, the
greater the chance H5N1 will mutate into a form that
is easily transmissible between humans. This could
spark a global pandemic that could claim millions of
lives.
The toll from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has
climbed to 80 people worldwide since 2003.
Reuters
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