Iraq Tests for Bird Flu After Girl Dies In North

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18 January 2006 -- Health officials in northern Iraq have asked Jordanian researchers to test for the lethal bird flu virus H5N1 in the body of a 14-year-old girl who died on 17 January in the Kurdish city of Al-Sulaymaniyah.
 

The health minister in the regional government, Muhammad Khashnov, said Tijan Abdel-Qader died on arrival at the hospital on 17 January after falling ill on 2 January in her home town of Raniya, which lies close to the Turkish and Iranian borders.

An Iraqi Health Ministry spokesman confirmed the suspected case and a senior central government health official in Baghdad confirmed that a team has been dispatched to investigate.

(Reuters)

Thursday, 18 January 2006