Fifteen-year-old Shanfin
Tijan Abdulkader has died on Tuesday in the Kurdish
province of Sulaimaniyah of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Hospital officials sent blood samples from
Abdulkader to Jordan whether she was infected with
the avian influenza which killed five people in the
Kurdish region.
A funeral was held Yesterday in the Kurdish town of
Raniya near Sulaimaniyah city on Wednesday for
Shanfin Tijan Abdulkader.
Until now five people died because of bird flu in
Greater-Kurdistan (Kurdistan-Iraq-Iran-Turkey-Syria)
and two death cases are still unclear.
The death has put the Southern Kurdish authorities
on high alert nationwide, while checks on imported
poultry have increased along the border.
“We are afraid and in a state of high alert in the
face of what could be a time bomb," said Azad
Ezzeddin Mulla Afandi, the chief agricultural
official for the Kurdish Democratic Party, one of
two Kurdish parties running the northern provinces
which provide a large amount of poultry and eggs for
the rest of the country. |
Kurdish health minister Jamal Abdul-Hamid gives a
press conference in the Kurdish city of Erbil,
South-Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). A 14-year-old girl
has died in Iraqi Kurdistan after showing symptoms
of bird flu, spurring emergency measures to keep the
illness at bay although tests on the victim have so
far proved negative.
Photo: AFP |
|
"Despite all the precautions we have taken, we are
terrified that the disease will appear here," he
said.
"We are doing everything in our power to prevent the
spread of the virus into Kurdistan," he said,
admitting that he couldn't exclude the possibility
of the virus appearing in Iraq.
According to him, these measures are being carried
out not just in the provinces of Erbil and Dohuk,
which are under KDP control, but also in Sulaimani,
the Kurdish rival run by the KDP's sometime rival,
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The results of tests for bird flu in the deceased
Erbil girl have yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile,
rumors of a bird flu-related death in nearby
Sulaimani have heightened the alarm.
Dr. Velid Hamid Ahmed, a veterinarian working for
the regional Kurdish government, told the Turkish
news agency IHA, "We take strictest measures. 45
tons of poultry products have been destroyed, as we
suspected they might be infected with bird flu."
Marwan Zarin, an Iraqi living in the region, said he
first heard about the disease on television, adding,
"I haven't allowed my family to eat chicken or eggs
after I heard the news."
The bird flu has killed five people in
North-Kurdistan in the past month. Today was
confirmed another Kurdish girl from the border died.
It is reported that the young girl in
South-Kurdistan handled chickens and geese two weeks
before her death and two of the animals were sick.
Girl's brother Saba Abdulkader said, "My sister got
sick all of a sudden. We took her to Raniya
hospital. She stayed there for two days and her
health worsened. Doctors told us to bring her to
Sulaimaniyah.
While we were on the way to the hospital, she died.
Health officials there took blood samples from my
sister and sent them to Jordan over the doubts of
the bird flu."
The poultry at the family's coop are not destructed
yet despite the death of Abdulkader.
Bird Flu in North-Kurdistan (Western Turkey)
There were more suspected bird flu victims, despite
WHO’s claim “Bird flu eases in Turkey.
More suspected bird flu victims were hospitalized in
the Kurdish and Turkish cities of Samsun, Mus and
Siirt.
Following the death of 2-yr-old Berfin from bird flu
after eating rooster meat, all members of the Alkan
family living in Kiyibasi village, near Mus, were
taken to the hospital with bird flu-like symptoms.
Samples taken from Nese Alkan, who remains under
medical care at Dicle University hospital, were sent
to Ankara for laboratory testing.
Hatice Alkan, the mother, called the local crisis
center to ask for a health team after her 4-yr-old
Hussein showed signs of fever. The boy and his
mother were taken to Mus State Hospital by ambulance
after he received emergency treatment at home. The
father confirmed that Hussein had had recent contact
with chickens.
In the Kurdish city Siirt, three children aged 4 to
6 from the same family were hospitalized with bird
flu-like symptoms. One of the children is reported
to still be in critical condition.
Source: IHA, Zaman, AFP, AP, REUTERS
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