Kuwait culls 1.5 million birds to fight bird flu
Kuwait,
Apr
1:
Kuwait
has
said
it
was
culling
1.5
million
birds
after
almost
40
new
cases
of
the
deadly
H5N1
strain
of
bird
flu
were
confirmed,
raising
to
96
the
total
number
of
infected
birds
in
the
Gulf
country
this
year.
The
new
cases
were
found
after
more
than
11,000
birds
were
tested,
mostly
in
pens
and
farms
in
Kuwait,
Health
Minster
Massouma
al-Mubarak
said
yesterday.
''No
human
infection
has
been
found
so
far,''
she
told
a
news
conference,
adding
that
552
people
who
had
been
in
contact
with
the
birds
and
their
families
had
tested
negative.
Officials
said
some
400,000
birds
had
been
culled
already,
while
the
culling
of
1.1
million
chickens
at
three
farms
in
the
southern
region
of
Wafra
near
the
Saudi
border
would
be
probably
completed
later
yesterday.
Kuwait
first
reported
a
case
of
bird
flu
in
2005.
The
country
has
closed
down
the
zoo
and
poultry
shops
in
residential
areas,
and
banned
the
import
of
live
birds.
Reuters