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Bird flu death of Iraqi girl confirmed

Infection Control Monitor, February 2, 2006

According to Iraqi Health Minister Abdul Mutalib Ali Mohammed Salih, a 14-year-old girl who died almost two weeks ago in the northern city of Sulaymaniyah had been infected with bird flu, the Washington Post reports.

Mohammed Khoshnaw, health minister for the Kurdistan regional government, said doctors suspected at least two more people currently in a local hospital could be infected.

The WHO is sending a team to Iraq for further investigation, and is also testing the infected girl's uncle, who died of the same systems.

The Kurdish regional government is particularly concerned about those in outlying villages along the border with Turkey, where bird flu has been blamed for the deaths of four children. The government has called on citizens to help cull poultry. However, in a regional statement announced through local Kurdish television stations, newspapers, and radio stations, the government urged the citizens not to slaughter the birds themselves.

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