Iraq health minister says dead teenager had bird flu

have bird flu. "It was ruled out before because all the indications at the time were that it was not bird flu...Tests done in a laboratory in Baghdad had come back negative. But she said testing for bird flu is complex and it would not be the first time that first diagnoses have been revised subsequently."

So now the tests in Cairo labs indicate there was H5N1. So WHO is now paying attention and are testing the recently deceased Uncle too.

"The WHO said on Saturday it was also carrying out tests on the girl's uncle, who died last Friday."

nt

I've been thinking about this very event,given the Iraq/Turky border.

it. It was worldwide; India, US., Europe, etc. Tourists, troops, business people, merchant seamen, delivery people, the milkman, the mailman, shoppers,students, etc

TERRRORISTS meet BIRD FLU!!! The troops will have to come home now, eh?

Linking 9/11 to Iraq wasn't enough, now they are trying to link bird flu to that quagmire.

Hold on to your seats because this spin will be very interesting.

is going on here...The child in Turkey same thing they said it was negative and then it was positive...the BS excuse was it was a poor sample...This is terrible news...

plus this has happened many tiimes as early on after infection ..a nasal swab will show up positive but after a few days the flu moves deep into the lungs and the nasal swab will be neg.Specimens from deep in the lung or a blood test is needed and this is not being done regularily on suspected cases.

after the uncle died too. Then we have bird flu come up positive in birds in Hong Kong, Cyprus,and in falcons in Saudi Arabia this past week plus pending tests on the woman in Romania.
I wonder if we see a rumbling from the military families if this spreads in Iraq to bring their children, moms and dads home. Maybe this will be what does it.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stor.../190794/1/.html

Iraq confirms first bird flu victim


SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Iraq on Monday confirmed its first case of bird flu, saying a teenage girl who died earlier this month in Kurdistan had succumbed to the deadly H5N1 virus.

snip

"The teenager Shanjin Abdel Qader, from the region of Raniya, who died on January 17, succumbed to H5N1 virus," the minister said.

Iraq has called on the World Health Organisation to check the possible spread of avian flu in the country's Kurdish region where 12 people have been quarantined and a cull of birds is under way.
snip

Ahmed said 12 people had been quarantined after they fell ill with pneumonia, but could possibly be infected with the fatal H5N1 strain of bird flu which has killed at least 80 people worldwide since 2003.

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.

snip

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.

snip

"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.

The statement did not specify if it was referring to the H5N1 strain.

snip

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.

There is also a major public awareness campaign urging people to take precautions, including cooking instructions to minimize the risk of infection.

Snip


- AFP /ls

Iraqi girl who died in Kurdistan had bird flu
Country's first known case of disease prompts bird cull, officials say

The Associated Press
Updated: 6:30 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2006


CAIRO, Egypt - A United Nations official and the health minister in Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday said a 15-year-old girl who died earlier this month in northern Iraq was a victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the first known case of the disease in the country.

"Today we started a campaign to kill birds in three towns -- Ranya, Dukan and Qaladaza. We formed committees to do so," said Kurdistan Health Minister Mohammed Khoshnow.

The U.N. official, who refused to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said testing on blood samples from the girl, who died Jan. 17, were done at the U.S. Navy Medical Research Unit in the Egyptian capital.

The official had been supervising the examination of samples sent by the regional government in northern Iraq. He said 30 other samples from northern Iraq were being tested.

The girl died in a Kurdish area near the border with Turkey and Iran after contracting a severe lung infection. Her hometown of Ranya is just north of a reservoir that is a stopover for migratory birds from Turkey.

Her uncle, who lived in the same home, died Jan. 27. The two lived near Ranya, which is just north of a reservoir that is a stopover for migratory birds from Turkey.

"Iraqi officials are calling on people not to panic or listen to rumours
An Iraqi Kurdish teenage girl has died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Iraqi health minister has said.
Abdel Mutalib Mohammed Ali said the diagnosis had been confirmed, despite initial reports from a WHO laboratory saying test results were negative. "

********************************************

"Iraqi officials are investigating the death of the girl's uncle who had also been suffering from flu-like symptoms. "

******************************

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4661916.stm

If this is confirmed, it is very bad news.

Am I incorrect in remembering that the Spanish Influenza epidemic was started by soldiers who had returned home after their exposure overseas?

This gives me pause.

expect more reports, probably scattered.

IMHO - Don't sleep with your chickens, and you will probably be OK.

So the insurgency that is in it's "last throes" is now to blame for the spread of bird flu?


http://www.nbc5i.com/nationalnews/6588715/detail.html


Iraqi and U.N. health officials said Monday a 15-year-old girl who died this month was a victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the first confirmed case of the disease in the Middle East.

Tests were under way to determine if the girl's uncle, who lived in the same house, also died of the virus. He died 10 days later after suffering the same symptoms, officials said.


The prospect of a bird flu outbreak in Iraq is especially alarming because the country is gripped by armed insurgency and lacks the resources of other governments in the region. Government institutions, however, are most effective in the Kurdish-run area of the north where the girl lived.

Another Kurdistan Health Ministry official said thousands of domesticated birds are expected to be killed, but authorities were not equipped to kill migratory birds. "We do not know how" to kill them, Najimuldin Hassan said.

Now * will have even more blood on his hands as a result of this stupid fucking war. And we'll all get the chance to die here so we dont have to die over there. Heres the headline.. Iraq war brings bird flu to America - Bush vows we'll stay the course. He's got vaccine! What... you dont?
:nuke:

After invading Iraq and making sure that 10% of the world's know oil reserve won't be pumped into our economies (and making sure not to stop the insurgent from destroying and attacking the oil infrastructures), thus making the price going up and making Cheney and his ilk happy, Rumsfeld will now have a phat no bid medical contract trough Gilead.

What a wonderful world :sarcasm:

with the troops as a result of this.

Bush will win Iraq with biowarfare.Bush will keep americans hating middle easterners when thier relatives get sick from the sick soldiers coming home.. Fear fear fear,scapegoat fear. Bush spins himself"positive"Cheney makes more money.And the vaccine cure is withheld until enough of the dark skinned people and poor people die off.

REMEMBER this Bit of American HISTORY:
Smallpox blankets as bio weapon "donations"..Murdered the indians here in America so white settlers could more easily massacre the scared sick villagers and steal the land. These fascist sociopathic thugs who want total domination they never change.

Of course if they spend (X) days in quarantine that should prevent the problem, I hope. Also you ate right...Bush* WILL fin a way to scare all of us, including me and you. BASTARD!

It still seems to be spread by close contact with sick birds, NOT human to human.

No reports yet of anyone sick who did not have direct contact with sick birds.

deep breaths...