by Playfuls Staff |
13th February 2007
Turkish authorities on Tuesday confirmed new cases of bird-flu in dead poultry from a village in south-east Turkey, the private NTV television station reported.
The positive [more] results came from poultry that had died over the past few days in the village of Dolucu, according to a statement released by the Batman governor's office. It was not clear whether the birds were carrying the H5-N1 strain of the virus which can be fatal to humans.
Last week authorities announced that fowl from another village in Batman province had died after contracting the H5-N1 strain of the virus.
A number of children also from Batman province who were hospitalized late last week suffering bird-flu-like symptoms were later cleared of having the virus.
Agriculture Ministry workers carried out a cull of all fowl in four villages last week in order to try and stop any spread of the virus. Dressed in protective white clothing the ministry workers rounded up chickens and turkeys and disinfected the area. A 10-kilometre quarantine of animals was also imposed.
A similar operation is to be launched around Dolucu.
The latest cases are the first reports of bird flu to hit Turkey since an outbreak last year that killed four children.
Hundreds of thousands of poultry were culled across Turkey following the outbreak that was suspected to have been caused by migratory birds from Russia.
© 2007 DPA
