Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO representative in Iraq, said blood samples from seven people suspected of carrying the deadly H5N1 virus have been sent to Cairo for analysis.
A 15-year-old girl from Kurdistan died in January of the H5N1 virus, which in the past three years has killed more than 80 people, mostly in Asia.
An eight-member team of WHO experts arrived on 5 February in Irbil, the main city of the Kurdistan region, to assess the situation.
(AFP)
Affected Areas
Click on the map for a closer view of the areas within RFE/RL's broadcast region where cases of diseased fowl have been confirmed. Last updated on February 20.
BIRD FLU, or avian influenza, continues to menace scattered areas from East Asia, where the disease first appeared, to Southeastern and Eastern Europe and beyond. Authorities around the world are bracing themselves -- and, more importantly, planning and taking measures to fight the disease wherever it appears.
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