Special report: Global fight against bird flu

    KUWAIT CITY, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait said on Saturday thatit has confirmed 39 new cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of birdflu,raising the total number to 96.

    In a news conference on Saturday, Kuwait's Health MinsterMassouma al-Mubarak said the new cases were among 11,000 birdsthat have received a H5N1 test in the past few days.

    The infected birds mainly came from three farms in the southernregion of Wafra near the Saudi border.

    "No human infection has been found so far," the Minister noted,adding that 552 people who had been in contact with the birds andtheir families had tested negative.

    Local authorities had so far culled 400,000 birds, and a totalof 1.1 million chickens are expected to cull.

    Kuwait has issued a ban on import and export of birds, andtemporarily closed down the live poultry markets and the only zoo.

    On November 2005, Kuwait announced the first case of bird fluafter detecting a flamingo infected the deadly H5N1 virus at aseaside villa, while the first case of this year was announced inlate February.