Turkey culls over 1 million fowl in fight against bird flu
20/1/2006 11:33
Turkey has culled 1.107 million fowl so far to combat bird flu spread in the
country, Turkish National Coordination Center for Bird Flu announced on
Thursday. According to the center, bird flu was detected in 13 provinces and
24 localities in Turkey while suspected bird flu cases were reported in 28
provinces and 73 localities. The provinces where bird flu was detected are as
follows: Igdir, Erzurum, Agri, Sanliurfa, Erzincan, Bitlis, Yozgat, Ankara,
Bursa, Istanbul, Van, Aydin and Kars. So far, there are 21 people confirmed
of infecting bird flu in Turkey, among whom four children have died
since. The virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed about 80 people in
Asia since its latest outbreak in late 2003. Experts fear that the disease,
which currently jumps from birds to humans, might mutate into a form that can
easily transmit among humans, which would lead to a global pandemic, killing
millions.
Xinhua news
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