Turks panic as bird flu sweeps across the country

Jan 10 2006

Fears continue to grow in Turkey as more reports of suspected bird flu cases among people sweep across the country.

Authorities are concerned that the deadly disease is spreading westwards towards mainland Europe.

In an attempt to allay some of the fear a World Health Organization (WHO) team who visited the village of Dogubayazit, the home of the dead children, said the evidence there pointed to infection from diseased chickens.

Guenael Rodier, the head of the WHO's mission to Turkey and a specialist on communicable diseases, has reportedly said that all the victims appear to have contracted the virus directly from infected birds, and it is not passing from person to person.

According to the Turkish authorities, 14 people have now tested positive for the deadly bird flu virus.

That number includes three children from the same family, from a poor rural region of eastern Turkey, who died last week.

Since its emergence in 2003 bird flu is known to have killed 76 people but this latest outbreak in Turkey, in humans, is the first to occur outside Asia.

Turks are understandably worried and are overwhelming hospitals demanding tests for the virus.

To date the virus has a record of killing more than half of those it infects.

Among 23 people undergoing tests for bird flu in Istanbul are thirteen children. None have been confirmed as having bird flu.

The city has a population of 12 million and is not only the country's commercial hub but is also the gateway to Europe from Asia.

Experts have feared all along that the deadly H5N1 strain will mutate to enable it to pass easily from person to person.

This could create a pandemic with the potential to kill tens of millions of people, because humans lack any immunity to it.

The WHO has only confirmed five cases in Turkey, including two deaths, and says other cases reported by Turkey have so far not been verified by laboratory tests.

In a sign that the disease remains dangerous in southeast Asia, Indonesia has said that local tests showed a 39-year-old man had died from the virus earlier this month after contact with dead chickens. That takes the death toll there to 12.

Turkey is now treating human cases in three broad areas, including three victims from the area around the capital Ankara, about 400 km east of Istanbul.

The other victims are in the Black Sea areas in the north and the east where the deaths were reported last week.

Turkey's Health Minister Recep Akdag has said that the total number of cases in the country is 14 and out of those 14, three children have died.

During a visit to Dogubayazit he appealed to people to stay away from poultry, and to ensure their children are not in contact with birds.

On a more optimistic note it has been reported that the six-year-old brother of the dead children was discharged from hospital on Monday after being confirmed to be free of the disease.

The spread of the disease among humans may jeopardise the Turkish economy.

Russia has already warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Turkey, which is a favorite destination for Russians.