Iraq has not found any cases of deadly bird flu and is taking every precaution to ensure infected birds do not enter the country, Agriculture Minister Ali al-Bahadli said on Sunday, according to Reuters. A regional government official in the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq said on Saturday that two cases of a milder strain of avian flu had been found, but that experts had ruled out the deadly H5N1 strain in both cases. "Iraq is free of bird flu," Bahadli said in a statement, adding that the health ministry and state veterinary officials had set up a joint operations room to monitor the situation. Rivers and borders are being checked and trucks sterilized as they enter the country, while poultry imports have been banned entirely from 20 countries. Fears have risen about the disease since cases were confirmed in neighbouring Turkey. The H5N1 avian flu virus has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries -- Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Scientists say H5N1 is mutating steadily and may eventually acquire the changes it needs to be easily transmitted from human to human. Migrating wildfowl can carry the virus and they are believed to be the main cause of H5N1's spread across Asia and into Europe, although this has not yet been proven.
