Kuwait has confirmed bird flu in two turkeys and a chicken, raising the number of cases of the deadly strain of the disease to 57 since an outbreak began in February, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. The birds were found in home pens in Wafra, south of Kuwait City, the Ministry said in a statement. No cases have been found in humans or commercial poultry farms, although both are being monitored carefully, The Associated Press reported. Tests on 354 people who had handled infected birds were negative, the Ministry said. Before the current outbreak, only one case of the H5N1 strain was found in a migrating flamingo in 2005. Authorities have closed down the Kuwait Zoo and the bird markets, and banned all imports and exports of birds as precautions to prevent the spread of the disease.
