Bird flu tests negative in Kuwait

Tests for avian influenza on more than 300 people in Kuwait have so far come back negative.

Officials told the KUNA news agency Saturday that the results of 280 of the 308 samples taken were back and had proven negative. At the same time, no new cases of bird flu had been reported.

Kuwaiti officials had fanned out across the emirate after the bird flu cropped up to conduct testing and disinfect farm areas in Wafra, Al-Abdali, Al-Sulaibia and Kabad.

As a precaution, KUNA said, hawk hunters were asked to stay out of the field for a while since migratory birds are believed to be carriers of the potentially disastrous avian virus.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International