Turkey, Indonesia report new bird flu deaths

Turkey said yesterday a fourth person had died of avian flu as authorities slaughtered tens of thousands of birds to try to contain the outbreak.

Indonesia announced a 13-year-old girl had also died at the weekend of the H5N1 virus, while two of her siblings were ill. Indonesia has previously reported 12 deaths from bird flu.

Human victims had been confined to East Asia until this month, when three infected children from the same family died in eastern Turkey, showing the deadly H5N1 strain had reached the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed health ministry tests, which showed Fatma Ozcan died on Sunday of H5N1.

Fatma, believed to be in her teens, came from the small town of Dogubayazit, home to the three other children who died. All were infected in late December or early January, the WHO said.

The WHO says the virus has killed at least 79 people since 2003 and infected some 150, but the WHO has yet to confirm it was to blame for the Indonesian girl's death.

Turkey can still prevent bird flu from becoming firmly established among its flocks, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO said yesterday, striking a more optimistic note than it did a few days ago.

"We are still in time to be able to prevent the virus from being endemic in Turkey if the Turkish veterinary services have enough resources," Juan Lubroth, senior FAO animal health officer, told a news conference in Rome.

Bird flu has been found in wild birds and poultry over a third of Turkey's territory, hitting villages from Istanbul at Europe's gates to Van near the Iranian and Iraqi borders. The FAO expressed fears that the virus could take hold in neighbouring countries such as Georgia, Iran, Syria and Armenia.

Turkish authorities have culled 932,000 birds over the past two weeks to try to contain the crisis. The Agriculture Ministry had imposed a nationwide ban on the transit of poultry.

The virus is already endemic across parts of Asia and scientists fear the H5N1 strain could mutate from a disease that affects mostly birds into one that can pass easily between people, leading to a human pandemic.

The senior UN coordinator for avian and human influenza, David Nabarro, will press for $1.5 billion to be pledged at a donor conference opening today.