January 3, 2006

Turkish boy's death not caused by bird flu

A 14-year-old Turkish boy who died at a hospital was tested negative for bird flu, along with three other patients from his family, the Health Ministry announced Monday.

Turan Buzgan, a ministry official, said Monday that the fatality was not caused by bird flu or any other flu virus according to test results. The boy died late Sunday at a hospital in the south-eastern city of Van.

A total of five other people, including three from his own family, were being tested for bird flu. Test results showed his two sisters and a brother were free of bird flu virus, while those for two other patients were yet to be announced.

The two other patients, aged 35 and 5, were sent to the same hospital on Sunday, the Anatolia news agency reported, as Turkish health and security authorities gathered to coordinate a response.

Turkish authorities last week said some chickens had tested positive for an H5 variant of bird flu and placed parts of an eastern town, Aralik, near the border with Armenia, under quarantine. The sick brothers and sisters are from the town of Dogubeyazit, just 60 kilometres south of Aralik.

"As a precaution, we have forbidden the passage of any poultry into or out of the district. Security forces, along with teams from the Agriculture Ministry, are checking entrances and exits," local official Rauf Ulusoy was quoted as telling Anatolia. "We are making announcements in the district that poultry should not be eaten."

"Right now, there is nothing to worry about, bird flu is totally under control," Anatolia quoted Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker as saying late Saturday.