Their City Under Threat, Iraq's Kurds Battle Bird Flu

"We're flying blind. We don't have the necessary lab equipment to diagnose the disease -- the analysis is being done abroad and takes 15 days," admitted Mohammed Khushnow, the top health official in Sulaimani, northeast Iraq.

According to Khushnow, aside from the two confirmed human deaths from bird flu in Iraqi Kurdistan, six people are suspected of being infected by the flu, of which one or two might have the H5N1 deadly strain.

On Tuesday, he told AFP of four such patients in the hospital.

Unease is high throughout Sulaimani, a city of an estimated one million people which, together with its outlying areas in a 15-kilometer (nine-mile) radius, has been designated a high-risk zone.

The anxiety is sharpest around the picturesque Lake Darbandikhan, 80 kilometers southeast of the city, which is used as a stopover by tired migrating birds.

The culling of birds around the city began last week in Tass Louja, just 15 kilometers away, and will soon move right into Sulaimani and "no family will be in contact with living birds," said Tahseen Nameq, head of a high committee set up to fight bird flu.

The mountainous area of Raniya, along the borders of Iran and Turkey, where the deadly disease first appeared, is surrounded by a cordon and three spots inside the area have been identified by health officials as being affected.

Inside these zones, authorities are in the process of "exterminating domestic birds, disinfecting suspect areas, ... chicken coops, and setting up checkpoints to sanitize any cars passing through the zone," said Nameq.

The areas of Raniya and Qalaat Diza have been entirely cleaned, but more needs to be done in Dukan, a resort area, health officials say.

In the areas declared clear, domestic fowl undergo regular tests and if any of these turn out to be positive, the sector is isolated and all birds eliminated in a 1.2 kilometer radius, while neighboring areas are put under surveillance.

Kurdish authorities are fighting the virus with whatever means they have at hand, while lacking modern laboratory material, and their efforts are largely restricted to the use of disinfectants.

"We have bought anti-viral drugs on the European black market, paying four times the official price," said Khushnow.

But in early February, the World Health Organisation said Iraq is to receive thousands of doses of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu to help fight off the spread of bird flu.

The Kurdish anti-flu teams, meanwhile, who are in almost daily contact with the disease, are going to battle with jumpsuits that are not completely waterproof and synthetic gloves hurriedly purchased on the local market.

Khushnow said the region needs experienced epidemiologists and vets as well as a molecular workstation which can "analyze all the various types of bird flu and determine their type", deadly or not.

Meanwhile, anyone who initially tests positive for the disease is kept under surveillance at the hospital.

"We don't want to take any risks. A sick person showing certain symptoms and who was in contact with birds is immediately hospitalized," said Khushnow.

The campaign, which is entirely locally financed, is at risk of draining the budget of the regional Kurdish administration and having serious economic repercussions.

"We are the primary providers of eggs and chickens to Iraq, and currently, all deliveries have been suspended, costing us five million dollars so far," said Nameq.