Turkey Reports Three More Cases of Bird Flu
Three Turks tested positive for a deadly strain of bird flu in the capital Sunday, a new stage in the sweep of the disease westward from Asia.
The first case of the virus jumping from birds to humans outside China and Southeast Asia was reported last week in rural eastern Turkey, where three children from the same family died after contracting the potent H5N1 strain of the flu.
Doctors confirmed that two children and a 60-year-old man were being treated in Ankara for the virus. The infected children, ages 5 and 2, are from Beypazari, west of Ankara, and are said to have caught the virus from contact with dead wild birds. Their parents tested negative.
Ankara is about 225 miles east of Istanbul, Turkey’s densely populated commercial and tourism hub, which lies partly on the European continent. Officials said birds were being culled in affected Ankara districts.
Four children have also tested positive for the H5N1 strain in the city of Van, about 500 miles east of the capital.
The agriculture ministry said bird flu had been detected among poultry in 15 locations, including Istanbul.
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