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Iraq Reports H5 in Domestic Poultry
Recombinomics Commentary
February 4, 2006
Iraq has file an OIE report confirming H5 in Sakapkan and Dawaw villages in Raniyah, Sulaimanuyah. Iraq is the first country in the Middle East to file a report. Today Bulgaria also acknowledged H5 in their country. In both cases, the H5 will almost certainly be H5N1 which has been reported in Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Ukraine ,and the Volga Delta, and Cyprus.
The failure of other countries in the Middle East to report the H5N1 in their countries is cause for concern. H5N1 has been in the area since October, yet these countries continue to deny the presence of H5N1. Now human cases have been confirmed in Turkey and Iraq, yet these neigboring countries have also failed to report human cases.
The lack of transparency in the region remains a major source of concern. In birds, the failure to cull allows for H5N1 infections in domestic birds where H9N2 is endemic. These concentrations lead to dual infections and exchanges of genetic information via recombination, which can create new polymorphisms such as HA S227N.
The failure to report H5N1 in humans leads to larger clusters, especially among large families as was seen in Turkey.
Countries in the region continue to deny H5N1 infections, which creates significant transparency issues. Although WHO has been investigating various countries in the area, the fact that only Iraq has filed an OIE report is cause for concern.
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