Though the initial reports from a WHO laboratory said test results were negative, Abdel Mutalib Mohammed Ali said the diagnosis of H5N1 strain of bird flu had been confirmed. The Iraqi health minister has said that the death of the Iraqi Kurdish teenage girl is caused by H5N1 strain of bird flu. That further tests would be carried out at a laboratory in the UK to make sure of the strain, a spokesman for the WHO in Geneva informed.
To discuss efforts to stop the spread of the virus, the Iraqi minister has gone to the northern city of Sulaimaniya to meet health officials. The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed four people in neighboring Turkey.
Mr Mohammed Ali told told Iraqi television.
“We took her samples to the international laboratory and initial test results were negative, but later more thorough testing showed indications of bird flu or even H5N1,” he went on to say. “We are calling on Iraqis not to panic or listen to rumours, but at the same to inform us if they suspect anything.” But he warned Iraqis “not to approach domestic birds and poultry as this is the main way of spreading the disease”.
Via: BBC News