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But the Kurdish health minister, Jamal Abd al-Hamid
has unleashed criticism on Iraq's central government
over the bird flu threat: "The Iraqi government has
not held any kind of consultations with us on how to
combat the disease, although as soon as it broke out
in Turkey, we took steps to prevent its spread to
Kurdistan - where there have so far been no cases,"
he told the local Nawa radio station.
Al-Hamid said "he was not aware" of any bird flu
measures adopted by the central government. "I
emphasise it must cooperate more with us to adopt
joint measures that will prevent the disease from
spreading," he said.
A state of emergency has been declared in Iraqi
Kurdistan, where the authorities have acquired two
million doses of bird flu vaccine, as well as 10
tonnes of disinfectant to treat poultry farms,
according to the regional health ministry. It has
also issued guidelines on hunting, how to monitor
migrations, and how to approach cases of suspected
infection.
For several weeks, there has been virtually no
Kurdish poultry sold, as families prefer to buy
imported much more expensive poultry or to buy red
meat.
In the Syrian city of al-Qamushli, which is close to
the border with Turkey, the local health authorities
have closed down live poultry markets, and have
handed out guidelines to all poultry sellers on how
to prevent the spread of bird flu.
Hundreds of birds from rural areas ouside al-Qamushli
have been destroyed, although the authorities have
not said if this was a precautionary measure of if
the birds were infected. Lab tests are being
performed on suspect fowl, but until now none has
tested postive, according to the Syrian agriculture
minister.
Doctors on Monday were testing an East Jerusalem man
for possible avian flu. The man - who was admitted
to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital with flu symptoms -
owns chickens, a few of which died in the past few
days, news reports said.
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