Mystery disease kills ducks

2005-10-15 20:34

Tehran - An unknown disease has caused the deaths of thousands of wild Teal ducks in northwestern Iran, but a government official said on Saturday the cause was not the bird flu strain that has killed birds in Romania and neighbouring Turkey.

Behrouz Yasemi, an official with Iran's State Veterinary Organisation, blamed a "mysterious disease" for the deaths of about 3 692 wild ducks.

"We were looking for bird flu (but) medical tests have definitely ruled out flu," Yasemi said. "Experts are now in the process of diagnosing this mysterious disease. We may be able to diagnose it in the next few days."

The Poldasht marshland region on northwestern Iran's border with Azerbaijan where the dead birds were discovered has been placed under quarantine, and wildlife officials are carrying out disinfection operations, said Mansour Sayari, head of Iran's veterinary organisation.

Sayari said Iran had notified the World Health Organisation of the bird deaths.

Similar mysterious bird deaths have also been detected in Russia, said Yasemi who had no details of how many birds had died there.

Sayari suspected infected migratory birds were spreading the mysterious disease and Iran was taking precautionary measures to halt it, but other migratory birds like flamingos and herons have not been infected.

"We are seriously worried about the spread of bird flu to Iran," said Yasemi, who is also the spokesperson of the National Committee Fighting Bird Flu.

Iran is conducting various control measures including screening and disinfection and has distributed more than 2 000 booklets among bird breeders to teach them to recognise and deal with bird flu.

- AP