[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[cyrus]

Iran says 5,000 dead birds did not have bird flu

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051025/wl_mideast_afp/healthfluiran_051025153247

TEHRAN (AFP) - Thousands of migratory birds that dropped dead in Iran this month did not die because of bird flu, the state veterinary authority said, without clarifying exactly what killed the birds.

"Following the death of some 5,000 birds in the northwest wetland, tests results fortunately rejected the bird flu virus infection in these birds," a spokesman for the Iranian Veterinary Organisation told the student-run news agency ISNA.

"Currently, the existing symptoms for other diseases are being examined, but so far the cause of death is unclear," Behrouz Yasemi said.

Samples were to be delivered to international organisations for a definitive diagnosis, "although there is no doubt that these birds were not affected by bird flu," Yasemi said.

The representative of the World Health Organisation in Tehran also said the country is free of the deadly H5N1 virus strain, according to state news agency IRNA.

"No case of bird flu has been found in Iran so far, and result of H5N1 virus tests on dead birds in West Azerbaijan have also all been negative," WHO envoy Mobasher Riyadh Sheikh was quoted as saying by IRNA.

"Iran is presently not threatened by the killer virus, but the threat is serious and it should be heeded properly," he warned.

Iran has banned all imports of poultry and related products to prevent the possible spread of bird flu. The country is also disinfecting cars entering the country from Turkey through West Azerbaijan's borders.

Iranian authorities have warned people not to approach migrating birds that fly across Iran and settle around ponds in the north of the country.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia banned live bird imports from Iran, Romania and Turkey as part of measures to keep out bird flu, the state news agency SPA announced.

It said the agriculture ministry imposed the ban as a temporary measure on birds from Romania and Turkey where the deadly strain of H5N1 avian flu has been detected.

Iran has also been listed because of the outbreak of an unspecified disease, said a senior official at the ministry, Mohammed bin Abdullah Shihah.

The Gulf region is at risk from the threat of bird flu, a Bahraini official warned Monday, following an emergency meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh to draw up a common strategy to combat the deadly virus.

Kazem Hashim al-Hashemi, Bahrain's deputy agriculture minister, said Gulf countries were vulnerable to the spread of the disease since the area was used by migratory birds.

GCC states, on an individual basis, have adopted measures to prevent the spread of avian flu, including banning the import of birds, poultry and their products mainly from countries in Asia and Europe where cases have surfaced.

[cyrus]

[Liberty Now !]

send the IAEA to check the site.

they probably died of Uranium Poisioning.
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Paayande Iran