Kuwait: 4 people infected with bird flu

According to a Kuwaiti health official, initial tests on four Bangladeshi employees who participated in killing and destroying chickens in Kuwait gave positive results to bird flu.

The four employees were hospitalized at the Kuwait infectious disease hospital yesterday, with symptoms similar to bird flu.

If confirmed, these will be the first cases of bird flu in Arab countries in the Gulf region.

'The first test result on these 4 people is positive. We took their blood samples for the second test to confirm the initial results, ' the unnamed official said. 'If the result is positive, we will send blood samples to the WHO laboratory in Cairo for the final conclusion'.

Since bird flu was discovered in Kuwait, 22 people have been hospitalized due to suspected bird flu, but subsequent test results show that their blood samples are negative for the H5N1 virus. So far this country has killed about 1.7 million poultry to prevent bird flu from spreading.

A Kuwaiti health worker is disinfecting a chicken coop in Kabad,
south of Kuwait City in March 2007 (Photo: AFP)

T.VY