Suspected bird flu case appears in south

Laboratory tests are to be carried out on blood samples from a 13-year-old boy from the southern city of Ammarah, who died from bird flu-like symptoms on 5 February.

“Our team has already reached Kurdistan [in northern Iraq] to help with prevention programmes and evaluate the situation in the area,” said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the WHO in Geneva. “This new case in the south of Iraq is going to be analysed in UK laboratories.”

Ammarah is some 360 km southeast of the capital, Baghdad,

The boy developed symptoms on 1 February and died four days later after being hospitalised for severe pneumonia.

Although no poultry deaths had been reported in the area, pet birds kept by the family reportedly died when the symptoms first emerged, the WHO reported.

“After unofficial laboratory tests, we confirmed the case and requested urgent help from the Ministry of Health and the WHO,” said Dr Ali Abdullah of Ammarah’s main hospital.

In northern Iraq, a 15-year-old girl died of bird flu on 17 January in the town of Raniya, along with two other suspected cases of the H5N1 virus, including the girl’s uncle, according to a statement from the WHO.

Samples from the girl’s uncle are currently being tested at WHO facilities in the UK, although the specimens already tested positive for H5N1 infection in a local laboratory.

The WHO has confirmed that seven patients are now being treated for similar symptoms in hospitals in Sulaimaniyah, in northern Iraq. Most of the patients reported a history of direct contact with poultry, the health organisation stated.

Local medical workers say that many more cases are suspected in the north.

Dr Ahmed Talbiti, an infections specialist in Sulaimaniyah, said there had been concern about a total of 26 suspected cases in the north, but that 15 had already been confirmed as negative. The rest, he added, are currently being tested in local laboratories.

Prevention procedures, meanwhile, have been ongoing. About one million birds and chickens have been culled so far, according to local officials, which have led to requests by local farmers for compensation.

“We’re taking all the required procedures to protect ourselves, using masks, gloves and special clothes when culling birds,” said Avan Awaz, a senior official in northern Iraq's prevention programme.

Additional supplies were sent by the US government to aid prevention programmes and are expected to reach the north by the end of the week, Awaz added.

A team from the WHO is also analysing samples to investigate the possibility of a virus mutation, which could lead to human-to-human transmission of the disease.

Direct contact with infected poultry, or objects contaminated by their faeces, is presently considered the primary route of human infection, according to the WHO. To date, most human cases have occurred in rural areas where many households keep poultry.