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Kurdistan-Turkey: Third child dies from
bird flu in Van
7.1.2006
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Istanbul, 6 Jan. - The third child from a
Turkish family has died in hospital of the deadly
HN51 bird flu virus. Hulya Kocyigit, 11, was the
sister of Fatima, 15, who died on Thursday and
Mehmet Ali, who died last weekend. A fourth sibling
is being treated in hospital for the same disease,
along with another 20 suspected cases, most of them
youngsters. The three Kocyigit children, who live in
a remote rural area near the Armenian border, are
the first human victims of the bird flu virus
outside China and South-East Asia.
The Kurdish children who died are known to have
lived in close proximity with poultry and were taken
to hospital after developing high fever, coughing
and bleeding in their throats. The head of the
hospital in the town of Van (Kurdistan-Turkey) said
the family had been late in seeking treatment, and
this had contributed to the deaths.
The Turkish government sent medicines to the area in
an effort to combat the virus, which experts fear
could mutate into a strain that can be passed from
human to human.
Experts say a pandemic among humans could kill
millions and cause massive economic losses.
More than 70 people have died of the deadly bird flu
virus in China and South-East Asia since 2003, out
of more than 140 infected.
In mid-October, Turkish officials and EU experts in
Turkey said there was no indication that the virus
posed a threat to humans there after an outbreak was
confirmed in the western province of Kiziksa. The
Turkish authorities have launched a mass culling
programme, in which tens of thousands of poultry
birds have been slaughtered.
www.adnki.com
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