Iraq says treating 12 possible human bird flu cases

[ECH1969]

Officials in northern Iraq said on Tuesday they were treating 12 patients suspected of having bird flu as a World Health Organization (WHO) team prepared to travel to the area to give urgent assistance.

Iraq‘s health minister said on Monday the country feared it had its first human bird flu victim after preliminary test results showed a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who died two weeks ago had the H5N1 virus.

"We have 12 patients in Sulaimaniya that have lung infections that we suspect may be the bird flu virus," Kurdistan‘s deputy prime minister, Imad Ahmed, told Reuters, referring to one of the region‘s largest cities. The most serious was 54-year-old Mariam Qader, who came from the same village as the dead girl and is believed to be a distant relative of the victim.

"Until now we have culled more than 400,000 birds," health minister, Mohammed Khashnow, told Reuters, adding that teams were concentrating on a swathe of territory between Sulaimaniya and the Turkish border to the north. "We gather the birds, put them in plastic bags and suffocate them and then bury them," he said. Poisoning with carbon dioxide is the generally approved method for culling large numbers of poultry.

http://www.localnewsleader.com/kindred/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=134110

[havocmom]

1. If confrimed, the death toll just went up significantly on bush*s watch.

So, that pandemic after WWI... that was helped along by...

Are ya feeling safer yet, America? Think the puppet is gonna talk about THIS new problem? Think all those happy reunions when troops make it home will STAY happy?

[ECH1969]

2. Iraqi health authorities go on bird flu alert

Health authorities went on high alert today following Iraq's first reported case of the deadly bird flu virus, warning farmers across the country to inspect their domestic and commercial birds.

Five mobile hospitals with special equipment were due to arrive in northern Iraq later today, according to Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed.

A 20-mile security cordon will be placed around the village where the disease appeared, he added. The measures follow yesterday's announcement that a 15-year-old girl from northern Iraq who died on January 17 had contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=171171112&p=y7yy7y8y8&n=171171872

[Ganja Ninja]

3. If there's any place in the world where bird flu can get a foothold

in the human population it will be Iraq. As if it wasn't already a big enough disaster.

[ECH1969]

4. It really depends on the area of Iraq

Southern, and Northern Iraq health officials are pretty strong, Central Iraq is not that good, and Western Iraq will be a very big problem if it comes there.

[SaveElmer]

12. That's right...

Northern Iraq is one of the areas where a competent working government is in place. Culling and education works...Vietnam has not had an outbreak in almost three months, and Turkey has not had one in 2 weeks. I say we let them do their jobs. WHO is in there, and I think Iraq will get the help it needs to contain this.

[ECH1969]

5. Iraqi Citizens Have Mixed Reaction To Bird Flu

Health authorities went on high alert Tuesday following Iraq's first reported case of the deadly bird flu virus, killing hundreds of thousands of birds and warning farmers across the country to inspect their flocks. Five mobile hospitals with special equipment were due to arrive in northern Iraq later Tuesday, according to Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed. A 20-mile security cordon will be placed around the village where the disease appeared, he added.

However, the announcement of H5N1's arrival appeared to cause little concern among many Iraqis hardened by years of death and war. Many people simply didn't believe the reports. "We will go on eating chickens. There is no bird flu in Iraq. Such news is false," said Salah Abdul-Hussein, a poultry dealer in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.

But some reacted quickly to the report by doing their own culling. "When I heard about bird flu being found in Iraq I hurried to the veterinarian who came to my home and we both burnt my pigeons," said Haitham Saham, a coffee shop owner who has been breeding birds since 1995 in Sadr City.

In the northern city of Mosul, health teams were visiting restaurants, cafes and farms to inspect poultry and hygiene, while hospitals have been put on alert to receive possible bird flu cases. Authorities also said they would spend about $680,000 to build a mobile hospital in the area where Qader died.

http://www.theksbwchannel.com/health/6621337/detail.html

[ROakes1019]

6. exit strategy

Will this be what finally gets out troops out of Iraq? A massive bird flu outbreak in Iraq could force public opinion to demand Bush bring the troops home. The truly frightening thing is that they bring the dreaded virus to our shores. Boy, Bush is screwing this country up every way possible. Here we see the effects of unintended consequences. The Bushies, who claim to shun reality while making their own, have created a threat more dangerous than terrorists. How will they spin this to their advantage?

[enigma000]

8. I'm not sure American public opinion would favour this

Leaving Iraq in the middle of a pandemic? Not safe for the US if the returning soldiers are infected. Not to mention leaving Iraq right at a moment when the US military could do some good. They must have bio-hazard gear with them, right?

[ECH1969]

7. BIRD FLU: IRAQI GOVERNMENT BUYS 10,000 DOSES OF VACCINE

The Iraqi health ministry has acquired "ten thousand doses of vaccine against the bird flu virus on a preventitive basis" according to ministry sources. Authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan confirmed on Monday that a teenage girl who died on 17 January was killed by the lethal H5N1 virus, making her the first human victim of bird flu in Iraq.

The Iraqi agriculture minister has meanwhile announced "the launch of an integrated emergency plan" to combat the spread of the avian influenza virus. A state of emergency was declared in early January in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the authorities bought two million doses of bird flu vaccine.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.259086582&par=0

[mitts]

9. What a f#@*%ing scam.....conspiracy thoughts about this.

I can see it now. The U.S. put it there. Anyone forget who has stock in these antiviral vaccines?

One would be good old Rummy.

[frylock]

15. i'm with you..

and welcome to DU.

[Ezlivin]

10. Saddam's secret biological weapons unveiled!

In a new Fox News Special, we learn about this most secret of weapons....

Well, that's what a little birdie told me.

[zann725]

11. Given the Napalm and Depleted Uranium these people've been exposed to

for long periods (not to mention what else chemically, compliments of U.S. DOD), it is MORE likely these people have many other serious illnesses...NOT bird flu. AND let's not forget, most have NOT had "drinkable" water for extended periods of time. That they're alive at all, is amazing. Bird flu? Please. In an environment of flying bombs and bullets, flying birds are the LEAST of their problems...except in propaganda world. Unless of course, Hell-iburton has decided to "test" the virus on their favorite part of the world and people.

Sorry to sound even slightly tin-foil, but after the failure to Filibuster yesterday, I'm still a bit lack-of-Dem hung-over. For a minute there, almost thought we still had a Democracy.

[lebkuchen]

13. KBR is probably serving up sick chicken in the mess tent right now

You know, KBR, aka "Halliburton," the company that served contaminated water to our soldiers.

[windbreeze]

14. Made to order pandemic...

Iraq has bird flu....(supposedly, and most likely, whether by divine intervention or some other kind)....so our returning troops who might be infected, give it to their loved ones, and anyone they come in contact with...and that sounds like what??? A made to order pandemic, so that * can declare martial law, throw in the Fed troops/mercenaries to quaranteen the sick(after all KBR did get that large contract to build detention centers for all those illegal immigrants that are going to swarm into our country all of a sudden)...and crown himself king...(IF it sounds like a duck and walks like a duck)....I wondered how he was going to pull it off, exactly...and this is absolutely the perfect recipe for success...after all, it's his duty to "protect the citizens"...and it wouldn't be his fault if some soldiers who were sick, were accidentally allowed to come home...the bird flu did not turn out to be the pandemic they wanted...so it might pay to help it along...

the best way to consider this admin is with your tin foil hat firmly on your head at all times...that way, you might just stand a chance...everything they do IS a conspiracy...a conspiracy against us, and our Democracy...let's just accept that as the truth it is...
shaking my head...
windbreeze

[Mojorabbit]

18. Nah, this started in Asia

but you can be sure * and friends will botch it up if it gets here.

[cantstandbush]

16. These are our "Iraqi friends" in the north. No doubt it will be brought

to the states.

[Mojorabbit]

17. Rumsfield speaks

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Transcript

On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcri...0125-12372.html
Media contact: [phone] Public contact:
http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html
or [phone]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Hugh Hewitt January 25, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secretary Rumsfeld's Radio Interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show

HEWITT: Mr. Secretary, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show.

SECRETARY RUMSFELD: Hello Hugh Hewitt. Don Rumsfeld.

HEWITT: Thank you for joining us. It's great to have you on, Mr. Secretary.
<SNIP>
HEWITT: I want to switch subjects, a couple of last questions Mr. Secretary. In 1918 the pandemic really hit the American military hard, killed a lot of soldiers coming back from the war, et cetera. Is the Department of Defense prepared for the bird flu if it in fact becomes transmissible human-to-human?

SECRETARY RUMSFELD: Well, you know, you never know because you never know how widespread it would be and how rapidly it would hit, but the commander of our Northern Command and our senior civilian medical personnel have been working closely with the other departments and agencies of the federal government as well as with state and local governments. We have stockpiled various types of things that would be helpful in helping to manage a pandemic of that nature. Our first order of business, obviously, is the force protection for our own people and their families and dependents, and then it's conceivable the Department of Defense could be called in to play a role of one nature or another depending on the severity of the pandemic.

HEWITT: That's what happened in Katrina, obviously. It ended up being your problem, the Pentagon's problem. Do you expect the same thing would happen with an Avian Flu epidemic?

SECRETARY RUMSFELD: Well of course it would depend again on the magnitude of it. We ended up within a matter of days and weeks with something like 22,000 active forces and 50,000 Guard and Reserve forces in Louisiana and Mississippi, in very rapid order with a lot of equipment and helicopters and trucks and medical facilities and the like.

There isn't another institution that can put that much assistance on a particular problem in that short a time. So you've got to know that it is not our responsibility and we're not a first responder. The state and local governments are. We're not in the disaster position of being the first federal agency called. Indeed, we don't have a first line responsibility. It is only when something gets so bad that there is no one else that can handle it. The first responders are gone, the other agencies don't have the resources that we do, and then we get the call and asked to help and then of course we respond as rapidly as possible.

<SNIP>