|
Turkey: Kurdish children test negative for
bird flu
11.2.2007
|
|
|
|
February 11, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Three out of four children
have tested for possible bird flu infection after
the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of the virus
resurfaced in Turkey do not have the disease, the
health ministry has said.
Samples from the fourth child, aged 18 months, from
the village of Bogazkoy in the mainly Kurdish
southeastern province of Batman were inadequate and
new tests will be carried out, the ministry added in
a statement carried by the Anatolia news agency.
A man who had been in close contact with infected
birds was under observation but was displaying no
symptoms, the statement said Saturday.
Samples from dead chicken, where bird flu in poultry
was confirmed Thursday, determined that the virus
was of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, the
agriculture ministry said Friday. |
AFP |
A quarantine zone was imposed within a 10-kilometer
(6.2 miles)-radius around Bogazkoy, where 170 birds
died, including three other villages nearby, the
ministry said.
All poultry in the four villages, totalling some
1,350 chickens, turkeys and ducks, had been
slaughtered by Saturday, Anatolia reported.
No trace of the virus has been found in Kurdish
provinces neighbouring Batman.
A major bird flu outbreak in Turkey claimed the
lives of four teenagers in January 2006 in a remote
region near the border with Iran, from where the
virus quickly spread to more than a half of the
country's 81 provinces.
Turkey's east and southeast are the country's
poorest regions, where people are traditionally in
close contact with poultry as backyard breeding is
often their only source of livelihood.
The four children from Bogazkoy who were tested are
aged between 18 months and 15 years.
The eldest child was in close contact with dead and
sick birds, but had so far shown no symptoms of the
disease, the health ministry said.
The other three children showed symptoms of
respiratory tract infection, but had not been in
close contact with birds.
Prior to this week's outbreak, bird flu had been
eliminated in Turkey since the last recorded case on
March 31, the agriculture ministry said. More than
2.5 million birds were culled across the country
during last year's outbreak.
The four teenagers who succumbed to the disease a
year ago -- three siblings and their cousin --
became the first human casualties of the H5N1 strain
outside Southeast Asia and China.
Eight other people confirmed as H5N1 carriers by the
WHO recovered after treatment.
AFP
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 