Amarah Quarantined

Health minister Abdul Mutalib Salih announced that an individual has died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Amarah, Maysan province. He said that Amarah must be 100 per cent quarantined and that medicine must be provided to prevent the disease from spreading. He asked security agencies to stop people from selling birds (in Amarah) and asked them to burn all poultry. Salih urged clerics to educate people about the dangers of having birds inside their houses and requested that medical experts form a special unit to confront the disease. Five children are suffering from bird flu symptoms at the communicable disease hospital.