Kurdistan-Iraq confirms first bird flu victim 30.1.2006

Iraq's Kurdish provinces, which lie on the border with Turkey, are a major poultry producing region supplying chicken and eggs for much of the entire country.

The dead girl's uncle has also died after suffering a pulmonary infection and samples from him are still being tested in Amman.

Another suspected case is 54-year-old Mariam Qadar, who hails from the same region as the two fatalities and was taken to hospital in Sulaimaniyah by her family on Wednesday.

"The analysis so far has not confirmed if she has the disease, but there is a suspicion," hospital director Shirku Abdallah told AFP.

The health minister headed to Kurdistan on Monday amid growing fears about the spread of the lethal form of avian flu spreading from across the border in infected Turkey.

"We are calling on Iraqis not to panic or listen to rumors, but at the same to inform us if they suspect anything," he said on Iraqi television. "Since the first cases were reported up in Turkey we have been taking all the necessary measures to deal with any possible influenza."

But the minister warned Iraqis "not to approach domestic birds and poultry as this is the main way of spreading the disease".

The government of Sulaimaniyah, run by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, has decided to slaughter all poultry and birds in an area near the Turkish and Iranian borders.

The area, which consists of some 50 settlements, is not a major poultry producing region, and residents will be offered compensation.

"Poultry should only be slaughtered under the supervision of the agriculture department since individual measures can only contribute to the spread of the disease," said a government statement, warning of tough measures in the case of non-compliance.

"The virus of the bird flu exists in Kurdistan and we are warning the population, particularly in the four regions bordering Turkey and we are asking them to cooperate with teams from the ministry of agriculture, health and interior in slaughtering poultry," it added.

Turkey, which has 21 cases of the flu, had previously been the only country outside Asia to report fatalities from the virus. Four people have died there.

Health officials in Iraq's three Kurdish provinces 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.

AFP  

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