Brussels, 31/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDPC) announced on 31 January that one of its foremost experts is to be sent to northern Iraq to investigate the risk of spread of the H5N1 virus of avian flu, which has caused the death of an adolescent in Iraqi Kurdistan on the border with Turkey, where the virus has already been responsible for five deaths. Epidemiologist Denis Coulombier is to be part of the World Health Organisation (WHO) team which will be sent to the scene. The team is due in Jordan on 1st February, before moving into the affected zones in Iraqi Kurdistan by the end of the week, according to a WHO spokesperson. Fourteen suspected cases have been notified in Iraq, with two - a man and a woman - strongly suspected of being contaminated with the deadly virus. Some 500,000 birds have been culled in a wide border area of Iraqi Kurdistan. On 31 January, Kurdish authorities took delivery by plane from Geneva of the antiviral Tamiflu to treat those suffering from avian flu.