Posted 1/30/2006 7:56 PM     Updated 1/30/2006 8:00 PM

Health teams cordoned off areas in and around Raniya on Monday and
began Iraq's first bird slaughter.

Policeman Khalil Khudur said he led a team that killed 3,000 birds, mainly
chickens and ducks, in Sarkathan, a village of about 600 homes four
miles north of Raniya. Villagers and cars were also sprayed with chemicals
to kill any trace of the disease.

But there were fears they might be too late.

Health officials are investigating the death of the girl's uncle, who lived in
the same house and showed symptoms similar to bird flu. At least two
other people have been admitted to a hospital in Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles
northeast of Baghdad, with similar symptoms.

"President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, was briefed on efforts to protect Iraqis
from the disease, according to al-Iraqiya TV.

The Iraqi case occurred just 60 miles from Turkey.

Dr. William Schaffner, a bird flu expert at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, said he nonetheless did not find the situation
alarming. But "it indicates this is an infection now that is well-embedded
in the bird population, probably poultry and the wild bird population," he
said in a telephone interview. "And we're going to continue to see
infection in people who have close contact with the birds, with poultry
and with waterfowl."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-30-birdflu-
iraq_x.htm

----
"H5N1 is also suspected as the cause of death for the girl's 50-year-old
uncle, who became ill after nursing the dying teenager. He died last
Friday. Confirmatory testing on samples from both is being conducted at
Britain's National Institute for Medical Research, a collaborating laboratory
for the World Health Organization.

"We're classifying this as a preliminary positive case, which is what we're
using to describe the cases in Turkey, so that we can react as if it is a
confirmed H5N1 case," WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said from
Geneva.

There is a possibility this is a case of limited human-to-human spread of
the virus, Cheng acknowledged. "Based on the evidence we have right
now, I don't think we can rule it out."

http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_health_news_details. asp?news_id=9124&news_channel_id=41&channel_id=41&rot=11

Edited by Rick

Can someone explain to me why the WHO Alert Phase is still showing the phase for November 2005?  Have they not updated this or am I looking in the wrong place?

Bottom line is the dollar...how much is your life worth?

Meewee

This is a CDC Clinician Communication Update with information from the WHO

Avian Influenza (H5N1) in Iraq

From World Health Organization (WHO) Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (EPR)

Avian influenza – situation in Iraq
30 January 2006

The Ministry of Health in Iraq has confirmed the country’s first case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
 
The case occurred in a 15-year-old girl who died on 17 January following a severe respiratory illness. Her symptoms were compatible with a diagnosis of H5N1 avian influenza.

Preliminary laboratory confirmation was provided by a US Naval Medical Research Unit located in Cairo, Egypt.

The girl’s 39-year-old uncle, who cared for her during her illness, developed symptoms on 24 January and died of a severe respiratory disease on 27 January.

Both patients resided in the town of Raniya near Sulaimaniyah in the northern part of the country, close to the border with Turkey.

Poultry deaths were recently reported in their neighbourhood, but H5N1 avian influenza has not yet been confirmed in birds in any part of the country. Poultry samples have been sent for testing at an external laboratory.

A history of exposure to diseased birds has been found for the girl. The uncle’s source of infection is under investigation.

The Ministry of Health has further informed WHO of a third human case of respiratory illness that is under investigation for possible H5N1 infection.

The patient is a 54-year-old woman, from the same area, who was hospitalized on 18 January.

Samples from all three patients have been sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom for diagnostic confirmation and further analysis.

An international team, including representatives of other UN agencies, is being assembled to assist the Ministry of Health in its investigation of the situation and its planning of an appropriate public health response.

WHO staff within Iraq have been directly supporting the government’s operational response, which was launched shortly after the girl’s death.

Iraq is the seventh country to report human H5N1 infection in the current outbreak.

The first human case occurred in Viet Nam in December 2003.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_01_30a/en/index.html