An 11-year-old girl died Friday of suspected bird flu in eastern Turkey — days after her brother and sister succumbed to the disease — and their doctor said they probably contracted the illness by playing with dead chickens.
Scientists were closing in on identifying the virus as the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu that has already killed more than 70 people in East Asia since 2003, said a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization in Geneva.
“If it’s confirmed, these would be the first human cases outside China and Southeast Asia,” WHO spokeswoman Christine McNab told the AP.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Turkish Health Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the WHO lab in Britain suspected it to be H5N1 but only confirmed that it was a type of bird flu.
The WHO also is investigating whether the cases resulted from transmission between people, which could signal the start of a human pandemic, while frightened Turks rushed to pharmacies in search of medicine as well as simple gloves and masks.
Education needed
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said people urgently needed to be educated about keeping birds, and that during Friday prayers, imams would give instructions on protecting themselves.
INTERACTIVE
Preliminary tests in Turkey indicated that Fatma Kocyigit, 15, and her 14-year-old brother, Mehmet Ali, died of the H5N1 strain, McNab said. Their 11-year-old sister, Hulya, died early Friday, but it has not been confirmed if she also had the strain.
Scientists examining samples at the British laboratory have already confirmed that the virus in the H5 family and appear to be close to determining if it is the deadly H5N1, McNab said.
The Turkish tests for H5N1 “turned out to be positive, and because it’s so specific it’s unlikely we’re dealing with false positives,” said Guenael Rodier, a senior official in the communicable diseases at WHO.
The condition of a fourth Kocyigit sibling was improving. The four were hospitalized in the eastern city of Van after developing high fevers, coughing and bleeding in their throats.
Click for related links
Questions and answers about bird flu
Chicken industry plans to test every flock
Government issues tips for possible pandemic
Hulya Kocyigit was buried beside her brother and sister, amid the wails of their mother, Marifet. An imam, wearing a surgical mask, read prayers as men, also in masks, took her white shroud-covered body out of the coffin and lowered it into the grave.
The doctor said the youngsters most likely contracted the virus while playing with the heads of dead chickens infected with the disease. The children had reportedly tossed the chicken heads like balls inside their house in Dogubayazit, near the Iranian border.
“They played with the heads for days,” Sahin said. “They were in very, very close contact with the dead chickens.”
CONTINUED: Other people hospitalized
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | 2 | Next >
Rate this story Low High Current rating: 4 by 460 users • View Top Rated stories
Print this Email this Blog this IM this
MORE FROM BIRD FLU
Bird Flu Section Front
• Third child in Turkey dies from bird flu
תגובות
רגע, שקט פה מדי
דעתך חשובה - תהיו הראשונים להגיב על הכתבה