January 5, 2006

Turkey confirms first human death from bird flu

A 14-year-old boy who died after developing pneumonia-like symptoms has tested positive for bird flu, Turkey's health minister said Wednesday.

Three other members of his family also tested positive and are hospitalized, Health Minister Recep Akdag said.

Akdag's statement contradicted a ministry statement earlier this week, which said the boy's death was not caused by bird flu.

Akdag did not say if the boy had died of the deadly H5N1 strain, but said samples were being sent to laboratories in Europe for further tests. Authorities are closely monitoring H5N1, for fear it could mutate into a form easily passed between humans and spark a pandemic.

More than 70 people have died of flu in Asia since 2003, most of them farm workers in close contact with birds. The teenager, Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, who died in a hospital in south-eastern Van province on Sunday, is the first person to die of bird flu in Turkey.

Kocyigit was among two brothers and two sisters between the ages of 6 and 15 who were admitted to hospital last week after developing high fevers, coughing, and bleeding in their throats.

The children helped to raise poultry on a small farm in the town of Dogubeyazit, near Mount Ararat and were in close contact with sick birds.

Dogubeyazit is some 60 kilometres away from the town of Aralik where Turkish authorities last week said some chickens had tested positive for an H5 variant of bird flu.