More victims in Kuwait?

KUWAIT, April 3 (Reuters) - Four foreign workers in Kuwait have been admitted to hospital on fears of bird flu infection, a Health Ministry official said on Tuesday. "Four Asian workers were transferred to a hospital on suspicion of bird flu, but nothing is confirmed yet," Ahmed al-Shatti told Reuters. Shatti said the workers were part of teams culling birds in the southern region of Wafra near the Saudi border, where the H5N1 deadly strain had been found on chicken farms. Kuwait has culled more than 1.7 million birds, the official Kuwait News Agency reported. The figure represents more than two thirds of the country's egg-laying hens. Kuwait reported 106 bird flu cases in birds this year. Kuwait's zoo and poultry shops in residential areas have been closed and the import of live birds is banned. In 2005, Kuwait reported a case of bird flu in a flamingo.

AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us |

Countries

t

Kuwait profilemap

• A Bangladeshi vendor carries chicken on a rickshaw to a market in Dhaka, March 29, 2007. Bangladesh has called for international help to upgrade bird flu test, an official said on Wednesday, as country battles a large outbreak of the disease in poultry.