As a first precautionary measure against bird flu, Yemen has banned imports of poultry products from Saudi Arabia, which recently culled 90,000 birds after the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flue was detected in a poultry farm. Yemen imports about 60% of its poultry products from Saudi Arabia, according to Ghaleb al-Eryani, director-general of the GDAR.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the H5N1 strain first emerged in Asia in 2003, and has so far caused some 205 deaths in humans.
