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Wild Bird Flu Imported into Kuwait?
Recombinomics Commentary
September 19, 2005
The cargo of birds was cleared through customs "using the assistance of influential people", customs officials and Interior Ministry employees, As-Seyassah daily reported, raising fears about the spread of the disease in Kuwait, which has no reported cases so far…..
A few days ago a cargo of imported birds, found to be infected with avian influenza, was destroyed, the paper said, which added that previous cargoes of birds imported from Mongolia suspected of infection had also received customs clearance.
The above report suggests that wild bird flu may arrive in Kuwait before the H5N1 infected migratory birds fly into the area from southern Siberia. H5N1 wild bird flu has been reported in Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. Birds from southern Siberia fly into the Middle East and Africa as the migrate to warmer locales for the winter.
The above report does not indicated if the avian influenza in the destroyed birds was H5N1. However, most of the reported influenza in wild birds from Mongolia have been H5N1 this year. H5N1 is expected to migrate into the area this season.
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