Bird flu scare mounts in Turkey
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-08 09:15

"The issue is not only a concern for 300 million birds in Turkey, but also a concern for public health," Eker stressed while assuring that all necessary precautionary measures will be taken.

He said the virus spreads across the path of migratory birds from Caucasus, a strip along Turkey's border with Armenia and Iran.

In order to stop the spread of bird flu, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry banned hunting of all wild birds throughout the country as of Jan. 6.

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said on Saturday that the World Health Organization (WHO)'s laboratory in Britain has ruled out human-to-human contagion of the virus in Turkey.

"The results of samples which we sent to the laboratory confirmed our results. For the time being, there is no threat of contagion of avian flu from human to human," he said.

It is reported that the European Union and the WHO had sent a delegation to Turkey on Saturday to conduct further examinations.

On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a speech to appease the public, saying "We have initiated a mobilization. The relevant ministries have taken all necessary measures. Our people do not need to worry."

He also called on citizens not to keep suspected poultry and hand them over to health teams.

According to WHO statistics, since the outbreak of the disease in 2003, altogether 74 people in Asia have died of the fatal virus of bird flu, with most of them traced back to contact with infected birds.

Turkey culled 10,000 birds in October 2005 in its west region of Balikesir after the first bird flu case was detected there and identified as the deadly H5N1 strain.

The Agriculture Ministry announced on Dec. 9, 2005 that it had successfully eliminated bird flu in western Turkey.