Human-to-human spread not seen in Turkish bird flu
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There are no signs that the bird flu virus spreading in Turkey is being passed among humans, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
The WHO has confirmed four human bird flu cases in Turkey, including the deaths of two siblings last week from Dogubayazit in the poor eastern part of the country.
“At the moment there is no element in this village indicating human-to-human transmission. It’s typically similar to what we have seen so far (in Asia),” Guenael Rodier, heading the WHO’s mission to Turkey and a specialist on communicable diseases, told Reuters Television.
The WHO team is visiting eastern Turkey to investigate the situation and to advise on measures to combat the disease.
Turkey has reported a spike in suspected bird flu cases among people across the country, fanning fears the deadly disease is sweeping westward toward mainland Europe.
Health Minister Recep Akdag said 14 people had so far tested positive for the virus, including the three dead children.
“The more humans are infected, the more chance the virus has to adapt itself to humans, that’s why we need to minimize the human cases, and the best way to do that is to control the disease in animals,” Rodier said.
He said villagers and children had been infected after close contact with chickens carrying the deadly virus, similar to how the H5N1 virus has jumped from birds to humans in Asia since late 2003.
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