Iraqis investigate possible bird flu death

Just when you thought the public healt situation in Iraq decline any faster, we learn that Iraqi authorities are investigating a possible death from bird flu in Kurdistan. The victim was a 15-year-old girl who died Tuesday of a severe respiratory infection. She lived near a reservoir frequented by migratory birds from Turkey where several human cases of H5N1 influenza have already come to light.

The girl's family apparently kept chickens in their house and some of those birds also died, said Dr. Abdul Jalil Naji. Raniya is about 60 miles south of the Turkish border and just 15 miles west of Iran.

''There are suspicions that they died of bird flu, but it is not certain yet and is not proven by laboratory checks,'' said Naji, who leads the bird flu office of Iraq's Health Ministry.

The investigation comes as at least 19 people in Turkey are known to have contracted the deadly H5N1 strain. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that bird flu might already have spread from Turkey to neighboring countries, including Iran and Iraq, but there have been no reported cases in Iraq. [AP]

Speaking of eating chickens, the connection between the factory farming of poultry and the risk of pandemic infectious disease isn't lost on me. As Amanda argues at Pandagon, there are many environmental/economic arguments meat eating that are at least as strong, if not stronger than considerations of animal rights.

Comments

[JR]

Bird flu is spread when free range chickens, ducks and turkeys come into contact with migratory birds. Factory farmed birds are caged and do not come into contact with wild birds. The connection between factory farmed birds and pandemic flu may not be lost on you, but it's lost on me.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Revere has a good post on http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2005/02/bird-flu-and-bird-farms.html>bird flu and bird farms at Effect Measure.