Iraqi boy survived mild bird flu
September 20th, 2006
A three year old Iraqi boy living in Baghdad has been confirmed as having been infected with a mild form of bird flu last March. This is the first confirmed human case in the capital city and the country’s third avian influenza case overall. The case has been retrospectively confirmed by the Ministry of Health as having been caused by the H5N1 strain of the virus. It took several testing methods to confirm the initial diagnostic on the boy, as samples were originally deteriorated during shipment. Iraqi officials confirmed the discovery of the H5N1 highly pathogenic bird flu virus in poultry in Baghdad, but no human cases had been confirmed in the capital yet. A teenage girl and her uncle, living in the province in Sulaimaniya, northern Iraq, are the only confirmed human victims of the disease.