Confirmed bird flu death in Iraq

[Guest Guest]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF2V587.html

 

 

Officials Confirm Bird Flu Death of Iraqi

Jan 30 10:23 AM US/Eastern

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By YAHYA BARZANJI

Associated Press Writer

 

 

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq

 

 

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.

 

Iraqi health authorities began killing domestic birds in northern Iraq, which borders Turkey, where at least 21 cases of the deadly virus have been detected. Turkey and Iraq also lie on a migratory path for numerous species of birds.

 

"We regretfully announce that the first case of bird flu has appeared in Iraq," Iraqi Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed told reporters in the Kurdistan city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.

 

Mohammed made the announcement after receiving results from a laboratory in Egypt that conducted tests on the girl, who died Jan. 17.

 

"The results show the inflection with the deadly H5N1," he said. "We appeal to the World Health Organization to help us.'

 

The girl died after contracting a severe lung infection in her village of Raniya, about 60 miles south of the Turkish border and just 15 miles west of Iran.

 

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.

 

A U.N. official in Egypt, who refused to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, also said the girl died from the H5N1 strain and that 30 other samples from northern Iraq are being tested.

 

In Geneva, the WHO refused to confirm the result until it had received official notification from the Iraqi Health Ministry.

 

But Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman, said the U.N. health body has requested more tests be done on samples at a WHO reference lab in Britain to be absolutely sure. Further tests could take two weeks, he said.

 

Another WHO official said it was possible that the disease could have spread from Turkey due to migratory patterns. Ranya is located near a lake often used by migratory birds passing through the area.

 

"As this has occurred in a region next to a country identified with a H5N1 outbreak, it would not be surprising" that it has shown up in Iraq, WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said.

 

Kurdistan's health minister said authorities started culling domestic birds in the village where the girl lived and nearby areas.

 

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

 

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.

 

 

[cartoongirl]

Oh my this is not good at all!

[gardnmom]

Not good news........

[Mother]

And HOW MANY of our troops are in Iraq???? and how often do they come home??? And another question, does anyone have a clue where these "migratory" birds go after they leave Iraq?????

 

I think this might be the first heads up for me. We still have no real human to human infection yet (do we?) and that should be the next step we watch for but I belive I will step up my preps a bit faster if possible.

 

 

[cartoongirl]

I am sure we will get alot of coverage and more information in the days to come and I hope and pray this is not wishful thinking. What is really going on, I'm sick of asking myself this question.

[cartoongirl]

Question: Do you think the US troops have any idea what is going on?

 

Mabey someone here at Mrs.S has heard something? Maybe it is too soon? I'm hoping someone will hear from their loved ones or possible someone could email someone they know that is over there?

 

TIA

[Guest Guest]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?sectio...p;article=34684

 

Military lays out plans should avian flu break out in Europe

Goal is to protect troops, dependents while continuing mission

 

By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Tuesday, January 31, 2006

 

 

 

STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. military in Europe would consider restricting the movement of troops, families and civilians as a way to combat the outbreak of the avian influenza, in the event the virus mutates and starts spreading from human to human.

 

The military’s plan, as discussed at a conference earlier this month in Stuttgart, would be orchestrated with host nations and U.S. embassies.

 

It strives to shield troops and families from the disease while also allowing U.S. military missions to continue unfettered.

 

Most cases of bird flu, which was first discovered in late 2003, have been found in Southeast Asia, where farm workers were infected by the virus due to direct contact with infected, domestic fowl.

 

Of the approximately 140 cases of bird flu found in humans, more than 80 have been fatal.

 

Though the vast majority happened in Southeast Asia, two children in Turkey and one girl in Iraq recently died from bird flu.

 

Cases of the flu have also been confirmed in poultry in Romania, but no humans have contracted the disease there.

 

Health experts fear that the virus, called H5N1, could mutate into a human-borne virus that could be carried around the world by unwitting victims, much like the common flu.

 

“The concern is that the mortality rate of this mutated flu would be considerably higher (than that of common influenza),” said Dr. (Army Col.) Edward Huycke, command surgeon for the Stuttgart-based U.S. European Command.

 

Huycke declined to speculate on the likelihood of the bird-borne virus mutating into one that could be spread by humans.

 

“I don’t think anyone would hazard a guess,” Huycke said.

 

“There is a concern, based on the past history of flu viruses, that a mutation could occur, but I don’t think anybody would lay odds.”

 

Medical personnel are working on a plan if a human-to-human form of the virus is found, officials say.

 

Victims would be given medical treatment, and people with whom they’d had contact would be identified.

 

The hospitalized victims would have oral and nasal swabs taken as well as blood, which would be rushed to scientists who’d begin developing a vaccine, Huycke said.

 

Reaction could possibly include isolation and quarantine of victims, to decrease the chance of the flu spreading.

 

Plans are already in place in the U.S. and elsewhere to facilitate the speedy development and distribution of a vaccine, according to Air Force Maj. Dana Dane, EUCOM’s chief of force health protection.

 

“Part of the big-picture response has been the priming of that system,” Dane said.

 

EUCOM officials stressed that the plan is part of a larger U.S. government plan being led by the State Department, since a pandemic could cross many borders.

 

Representatives from the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany also attended the conference.

 

According to Air Force Lt. Col. Ron “Grumpy” Sanders, the European Plans and Operations Center’s contingency response chief, in case of an epidemic, the military’s priorities are to protect its people, carry out missions as usual, and help others cope, if possible.

 

“Our planning effort is not to contain the avian flu,” Sanders said.

 

“It’s to manage the environment if it (becomes) a sustainable, human-to-human pandemic, if it comes to that.”

 

The military is also planning a medical-response exercise in May or June to test its capabilities, Sanders said.

 

[logcabinmama]

I just sent an e-mail to our son to see if he has heard about it.

 

All we can do is that our troups are safe.

 

 

[Mother]

That last little bit about the military "managing the environment" is cryptic to say the least. How do they manage the environment of a pandemic but to manage the PEOPLE? I keep wondering who thinks up these words they use for these things.

 

 

[cartoongirl]

Snowmom,

 

thx.