Bird flu reaches Baghdad, official says humans unaffected

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi health officials have said that a recent bird flu infection discovered at some Iraqi provinces has reached to the capital, but assured that danger is still limited to animals.

Nazek al-Fatlawi, a director of public health at the Baghdad health department, told Almaalomah website that infections were recorded at al-Taji district, north of the capital.

“The disease infects birds and does not affect humans,” she said. “What had been rumored about the spread of the disease and recording human infections is untrue”, she added, noting that hospitals and medical centers possess the drugs needed to counter the disease.

Last month, Kurdish NRT network quoted a medical source in Mosul saying that al-Salam Educational Hospital in the eastern region recorded three deaths with the disease, while the fourth case was recorded at al-Shifa Hospital in the western region of the city.

Earlier in January, Iraqi agriculture minister Falah Hassan declared that a poultry farm caught the infection in Babil province, days after another infection focus in Diyala province was brought under control.

The Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health confirmed the reporting about Diyala, saying that the infection killed 7250 out of 43000 birds.