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New York, 1 Feb.
(AKI) - The United Nations World Health Organization
(WHO) is sending a expert team to Iraq on Wednesday
to examine reports of a fatal case of avian
influenza, or “bird flu,” in the war-ravaged
country. Iraq’s Ministry of Health has confirmed
that a 15-year old girl died who died on 17 January
had been diagnosed with bird flu. The WHO team will
leave tomorrow for Sulaimaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan
where the girl, her uncle and a third suspected case
have been found.
The regional health ministry in Iraqi Kurdistan has
for some weeks been active in trying to curb bird
flu - creating mobile sanitary units, closing most
slaughter-houses, and disinfecting poultry farms -
but the Kurdish health minister, Jamal Abd al-Hamid
has been critical of the Iraq's central government
response to 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 two weeks ago
Meanwhile, a WHO collaborating laboratory in Britain
has confirmed that 12 of the 21 cases that were
suspected from Turkey were indeed the deadly H5N1
bird flu. Four people - all of them youngsters -
have died.
Worldwide, the disease has killed 79 people and led
to the slaughter of millions of chickens in an
effort to prevent further transmission from birds to
humans.
So far, the virus has not spread among humans, but
WHO has warned that it could change into a form that
spreads easily from person to person, triggering an
influenza pandemic which could kill tens of millions
of people worldwide.
www.adnki.com
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