Egypt has culled 1,599 domestic poultry suspected of contracting bird flu in its latest efforts to prevent further spread of the fatal disease in the populous Middle East and North Africa country, Xinhua quoted official MENA news agency as reporting Tuesday. The culling of birds was carried out in four governorates, namely Cairo, Qalyubiya, Minufiya and Gharbiya, chairman of the General Authority for Veterinary Services Hamid Samaha was quoted as saying. Under the supervision of a committee, the dead poultry was buried deep between two layers of white lime, said Samaha. The preventive medicine department has launched a campaign to vaccinate live poultry against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in the country, with the participation of 3,000 veterinarians, assistants and drivers. Some 85 million doses of anti-bird flu vaccines were secured, added Samaha. The anti-bird flu measures were taken as four more Egyptian people died of the fatal disease in less than a week in late December, 2007. According to media statistics, Egypt has reported a total of 43human cases, including 19 deaths, up to now since it detected its first H5N1 virus in dead poultry in February 2006 and the first human case in March of the same year.
