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Fourth bird flu death in Turkey
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QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- A 12-year-old girl who died Sunday has tested positive for the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, health officials said, bringing Turkey's death toll from the virus to four and the number of its human cases to 20. Fatma Ozcan died of bird flu-like symptoms in the eastern city of Van, said Dr. Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at the Van University Hospital. Initial tests had been negative for H5N1, but health officials ordered more tests after her 5-year-old brother, Muhammad Ozcan, tested positive. The additional tests confirmed she was infected with the H5N1 strain, according to a statement from the Health Ministry on Monday. Both siblings had contact with sick birds, The Associated Press quoted officials as saying. Also Monday, the government's bird flu crisis center said the country has slaughtered 764,000 fowl nationwide in its effort to contain the outbreak, AP reported. So far, 20 people have tested positive for H5N1 in Turkey, including three children who died last week in eastern Turkey, authorities said. Health officials have said that all 20 people apparently had touched or played with birds, and that there was no evidence of person-to-person infection, AP reported. Tests completed last week detected the H5 virus subtype in specimens taken from another 12-year-old girl, from Agri Province, who died January 7. Two of the girl's siblings had previously died of the infection. Human cases have been reported in nine of Turkey's 81 provinces. Officials have confirmed poultry outbreaks in 11 provinces and are investigating possible outbreaks in another 14 provinces. The Turkish fatalities were the first known deaths from the virus outside of Asia, where more than 70 people have been killed by bird flu since 2003, AP said. Human bird flu cases have been reported in China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Roughly half of the patients have died. The number of people killed in Indonesia climbed to 12 on Friday after a laboratory confirmed the death of a woman, officials told AP. (Full story) That number threatened to rise again Monday after Jakarta reported that a 13-year-old girl who died over the weekend had tested positive for the H5N1 virus, Reuters reported. The findings await confirmation from outside laboratories recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). In Belgium, a person admitted to a Brussels hospital with flu symptoms after returning from areas in Turkey affected by bird flu tested negative for the virus, according to a government official. Inge Jorris, Belgium Health Ministry spokeswoman, said Saturday the patient's initial lab tests at the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Brussels excluded the possibility of H5 bird flu. More test results were expected Sunday. The person's gender and nationality were not released. Meanwhile, an east Jerusalem man who was admitted to Hadassah Hospital with flu symptoms on Monday was being tested for possible avian flu, AP reported. Doctors decided to test the man's blood for bird flu after a few of his chickens died, hospital spokesman Ron Krumner said. Test results were not yet available, and the man was being kept in isolation. The U.S. State Department said the United States is sending a team of influenza experts to Turkey to assess how to help its ally battle avian flu. Team members were scheduled to arrive in Ankara on Monday to meet with representatives of international organizations there -- such as WHO, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. They will then travel to Turkish regions affected by the virus to see efforts already under way. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control sent two experts to Turkey this week to work with the WHO at its request. Also, countries around the world are expected to pledge at least $1 billion to help tackle bird flu and prepare for a potential human pandemic, a World Bank official told AP Monday. (Full story) The World Bank is co-hosting a conference on bird flu next week in Beijing, along with China and the European Union. Eighty countries and 20 organizations are scheduled to attend the meeting. The EU said it had pledged $100 million towards fighting the spread of avian flu. (Full story) Avian flu has spread rapidly across Asia and into eastern Europe. World health officials fear the disease may spread through migratory birds flocking to the region or from the transport of domestic birds. Experts say the deadly H5N1 virus poses the biggest threat in the colder months in affected regions, and could also spread in east Asia as people slaughter chickens for Lunar New Year celebrations. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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