Turkish veterinary officials in protective suits chase ducks in a village named Yilanli near the eastern town of Dogubayazit yesterday. - REUTERS
ANKARA (Reuters):
TURKEY STEPPED up efforts yesterday to halt an outbreak of deadly bird flu as a United Nations body warned that the virus risked becoming firmly established there and posed a serious threat to neighbouring countries.
The virus has been found in wild birds and poultry in a third of Turkish provinces, killed at least two children and infected more than a dozen people.
The Turkish victims are the first human cases reported outside east Asia since H5N1 avian influenza re-emerged in 2003. Two more people in China are now known to have died from bird flu last month, bringing the death toll there to five.
Indonesia said a woman in Jakarta had been diagnosed as suffering from the virus after contact with dead chickens.
Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus, which is known to have killed 78 people, could mutate into a form that can spread easily between humans, leading to a pandemic.
World Health Organisation (WHO) doctors said there was no sign of human-to-human transmission in the Turkish outbreak.
They also said there was no reason for people not to visit Turkey, a tourism magnet.
However, experts from another U.N. body, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said the virus risked becoming a constant problem in Turkey as it is in poultry in parts of Asia.
"The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 could become endemic in Turkey," the FAO said in a statement.
Juan Lubroth, senior FAO animal health officer, said the virus may be spreading despite the measures taken to combat it.
