AP: Bird Flu Concerns In War-Torn Iraq

[Hissyspit]

Mods: Buried in this article on Iraq on the Iraq Constitution is reportage of WHO and the potential of bird flu in Iraq. I have posted it separately from the main article, so I have rewritten the headline to more accurately reflect this separate post.

http://start.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20060112/43c5e250_3ca6_15526200601121363828258

Politician: Iraq Constitution Won't Change
By PATRICK QUINN (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 12, 2006 3:41 AM EST

- snip -

Doctors, veterinarians and other health ministry officials met Sunday in northern Iraq's Kurdish enclave to discuss bird flu, the region's minister of agriculture said.

- snip -

There have been no reported cases of bird flu in Iraq...
But it remained unclear what steps could be taken in violence-wracked Iraq should an outbreak occur.

- snip -

Capt. Peter Purrington, a surgeon with the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade, said the unit had the anti-viral drug Tamiflu available, but was not stockpiling it in case of a significant outbreak.

In Geneva, WHO said a network of "focal points" had been set up across Iraq, with doctors responsible for surveillance and investigating any possible outbreak. WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said if there is a bird flu outbreak in Iraq, "it will be difficult, but we worked also in other war-torn countries."

MORE ARTICLE AT LINK

Associated Press reporters Bushra Juhi in Baghdad, Ryan Lenz in Tikrit, Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk, and Sam Cage in Geneva contributed to this report.

[spooked]

1. OMG is THAT why all the news about Avian Flu deaths in Turkey?!

What have they got planned now?!




Turkey steps up bird flu fight amid warnings of spread
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20060112&hn=28527

[Hissyspit]

2. Another Pandora's box for Bush to open...

and yet another reason we shouldn't have invaded.

[Benhurst]

3. If this happens, it will bring new meaning to the Sixties phrase

"Bring the war home."

[malmapus]

4. Same thing happened to the Romans

While under Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Rome went to war with the Parthians in present day Turkey. The legions that were doing the fighting there started to get sick from a strange illness not known to them. Well it gets brought back and spreads through the rest of the Empire. I forgot how much of the population at the time was affected, I've heard like a 1/3rd got sick, fatalities were kinda bad. Enough to mess the economy up and deplete the legions fighting in the east.