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Bird flu cases rise to 14 near Iran training camp

Sunday, March 05, 2006 - �2005 IranMania.com

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LONDON, March 5 (IranMania) - The number of registered bird flu cases has risen to 14 in the southern German region of Lake Constance (Bodensee) where the Iranian national football team plans to hold their upcoming World Cup training camp, DPA reported. 
Five more wild birds were discovered with the bird flu virus in the Austrian city of Bregenz which is less than 30 kilometers away from the German town of Friedrichshafen where the Iranian team will hold its World Cup preparatory training camp in late May. 
The Iranian national football squad is scheduled to stay at the luxurious 'Krone Hotel' which is located outside Friedrichshafen in Schnetzenhausen, IRNA said. 
Surrounded by Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Lake Constance has been hit by the bird flu as dozens of ducks, birds and swans on the lake have in the meantime succumbed to the bird flu. 
Authorities have set up exclusion zones in a three-kilometer radius along the beaches. 
Last week German health officials discovered a dead wild duck with the deadly H5N1/Asia type along the beaches of the lake near the city of Ueberlingen which is some 30 kilometers away from Friedrichshafen. 
German health experts anticipate a worsening of the bird flu situation in the Lake Constance region as up to 250,000 migratory and water birds will fly over the lake to head to western and central Europe from southern Europe and northern Africa. 
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Bird flu threat to World Cup 

Sunday 

5 March 2006 
    http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=137282& Sn=SPOR&IssueID=28350

SAU PAULO: Fifa and German authorities are considering cancelling the World Cup soccer if a pandemic of bird flu breaks out in Europe, according to Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sau Paulo.
"Hightening the paranoia, political figures in Germany and the president of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, have confirmed that the World Cup, due to start in June, could be cancelled if the virus (H5N1) mutates and begins to infect the population," wrote the paper's Zurich correspondent, from the city where Fifa's headquarters are situated. "It would be normal for there to be no World Cup if the bird flu transforms into a pandemic," the paper quoted Blatter as saying. 

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World Cup bird flu scare
Sat, Mar 4, 2006 
Lizzy Graham
MegaStar says: 'Tabs in flap over German bird flu.'

After last night's defeat of Uruguay, the footie patriotism is brimming from the rags. It doesn't take much.

Since there are just 99 days to go until the World Cup begins, we reckon the Star must've employed a work experience kid to dig out a daily World Cup related story.

Today's declares: "England's boss Sven may not get the chance to compete in the finals in Germany because of bird flu."

Isn't that a bit presumptuous that bird flu will be the only thing to stop us making it to the final?

Anyway, the story goes that FIFA bigman Sepp Blatter has declared that the World Cup final; will be called off because of bird flu, if the German government gives the nod.

"More than 103 dead birds have tested positive for H5N1 in Germany since last week," says the rag, and if there are cases of mutation and the disease being passed to humans, the footie final could be in trouble.

The FIFA prez explains his stance: "If it should turn out that bird flu develops into a threat like cholera or the plague, if it passes from human to human, it is a decision for the government.

"And we must respect that. Completely, absolutely."

The Star lightens this grim news with a snap of Sven's egg-head plastered on the body of a seagull. 
 http://www.megastar.co.uk/meganews/news/2006/03/02/sMEG01MTE 0MTI5NTIyMjE.html