|
Turkey: Bird flu found in 10 Kurdish
villages
16.2.2007
|
|
|
|
February 16, 2007
Diyarbakir, Bird flu has spread to 10
villages in southeast Turkey, where four children
died of the virus a year ago, but no human cases
have been reported, agriculture officials said on
Friday.
Provincial agriculture officials said bird flu had
been detected on Friday in two villages in
Diyarbakir, one of two neighbouring provinces in the
poor and rural southeast where the virus has hit.
More tests were needed to determine whether it was
the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, which was
detected in the region last week.
The two villages were quarantined and 340 birds were
destroyed, the officials said.
A year ago, the virus killed four children in the
region, and was also blamed for a fall in revenues
in Turkey's important tourist industry. |
AFP |
More than 120 students were given
one week off from school as a precaution against the
threat of contracting bird flu.
Initial results from samples taken from domestic
fowl from the village of Akcayir in the Silvan
district of the southeastern Turkey Kurdish province
of Diyarbakir have tested positive for avian
influenza.
Agriculture authorities on Thursday announced that
the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has been
detected in three villages following an outbreak in
another southeastern village.
Authorities said laboratory tests confirmed the
strain in the villages of Doluca, in Batman
province, and in Akcayir and Yesilalan in
neighboring Diyarbakir province. The H5N1 virus was
first detected in the village of Bogazkoy earlier
this month.
Authorities said a total of more than 3,500 birds
have been culled in the affected villages. Hundreds
of domestic fowl have died in the area over the past
week and authorities have quarantined several
villages.
Health officials were visiting dozens of other
villages in the area, checking villagers for
flu-like symptoms. Seven people have tested negative
for the virus so far.
Experts worry that the H5N1 strain, which remains
hard for people to catch, will mutate into a form
that spreads easily among humans, potentially
sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have
been traced to direct contact with sick birds.
During an H5N1 outbreak in Turkey in January 2006,
12 people were infected and four of them died.
Reuters |
NTVmsnbc | 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
|
® 