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BAGHDAD, Feb 12,
- More than 200,000 birds have been culled in
Kurdistan (northern Iraq) to stem the spread of
avian flu that has killed one teenager, but the
virus poses no serious threat to human health,
veterinary experts said on Sunday.
"I'm not able to report to you that the disease is
fully in control, but I am able to say that the
regional governments are doing the best they can,"
said veterinarian Sam Yingst of the U.S. Naval
Medical Research Unit in Egypt.
"Right now this is more of an agricultural issue
that's damaging the economy, not yet a serious
health hazard."
Yingst, who led an investigation into the virus in
Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region, said
tens of thousands of birds had been culled in the
region's capital, Erbil, and 200,000 in Sulaimaniyah,
but the deadly H5N1 strain had been found only at
one site so far.
The avian virus is confined to the dead teenager's
village in Kurdistan. Tests are being conducted on
samples from her uncle, who lived in the same area
and also died.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said last week
the Iraqi Health Ministry had reported a suspected
case in Amara, 365 km (230 miles) southeast of
Baghdad.
Iraqi health officials are investigating four
suspected human cases of the avian virus in the city
and have ordered a mass culling of birds to contain
a possible outbreak.
People can catch the virus from contact with
infected birds, but it cannot be spread from one
human to another.
Experts fear the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain,
which has killed at least 88 people since early
2003, may mutate into a form that can spread from
human to human and cause a global flu pandemic that
could kill millions.
Reuters
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