Merlin the Magician
At the Start
Turkey's Bird-Flu Deaths Bring Virus Nearer to Europe (Update6)
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey said a second teenager infected with avian flu died, indicating the virus that's killed at least 74 people since 2003 has moved outside East Asia to the threshold of Europe.
A 15-year-old girl who died earlier today and her 14-year- old brother who died on Jan. 1 both had avian flu, said Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at the hospital where the children died. The hospital, in the eastern city of Van, is treating nine others suspected of having the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus.
The deaths come less than two weeks after Turkey reported a second wave of avian flu in poultry and mark the virus's westward progression from China and Southeast Asia. Authorities are concerned Turkey hasn't done enough to prevent human infections, which increase the risk of the virus changing into a pandemic form that may kill millions.
``Turkey and Western Europe have had months and months of warnings about this virus being on the way,'' Peter Cordingley, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Manila, said over the telephone today. ``We had hoped that it would be contained to poultry and wild birds. To see what appear to be signs of human cases is a big disappointment.''
Another child was admitted with similar symptoms at about 3:30 p.m. Istanbul time, said Ahmet Faik Oner, head of the pediatric unit in Van hospital. CNBC-e television reported that five new cases were sent by the Dogubeyazit hospital today. Oner couldn't confirm the other transfers immediately. The switchboard for the Dogubeyazit hospital didn't answer.
The child admitted today was a relative of some of the children already under treatment, Oner said.
Some Van hospital staff complained of the lack of preparedness and the slow pace of reaction from government officials. Turkey's Health Ministry earlier ruled out avian flu as the cause of symptoms -- including pneumonia and bleeding from the throat -- in four patients.
No Quarantine
``There's still no official quarantine in the hospital,'' said Naime Binzet, a nurse working in the pediatric unit that's treating seven cases. ``We haven't been given proper equipment, and not everybody is able to take the preventive medicine.''
Chief physician Sahin said there was no need for quarantine because there was no risk of transmission between people. They emptied the children's ward just because parents were panicking, Sahin said in a phone interview. Bernardus Ganter, at WHO's Copenhagen office, disagreed.
``Of course quarantine of human cases in hospitals is required,'' said Ganter, Regional Adviser on Communicable Diseases in Europe, in a telephone interview. ``Children should be in an isolation ward; doctors, nurses should be wearing special gowns.''
Contact With Chickens
An initial local shortage of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu drug meant delays in treating the patients with the antiviral medicine, Sahin acknowledged. The country has enough supplies of Tamiflu to treat new cases and there is no reason to panic, Health Minister Recep Akdag told reporters in Ankara yesterday.
The country's health ministry said yesterday it was treating two teenagers infected with the H5N1 avian-flu strain. Confirmatory tests are being undertaken by WHO and a U.K. laboratory.
All 11 of Turkey's suspected cases, including the siblings who died, are from Dogubeyazit, a town on the Iranian border, and came into contact with chickens that died of unknown causes, hospital officials said.
The virus was confirmed last week in birds in a town 50 miles north of Dogubeyazit. The town is about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away from the European continent in the easternmost corner of Turkey.
About 1,200 chickens, geese, turkeys and ducks kept in four backyards in the village of Kopruler in Igdir province died last month from bird flu, Turkey said in a Dec. 27 report to the World Organization for Animal Health.
Killing Birds
Authorities are concerned new outbreaks among birds create opportunities for human infection and increase the risk of the virus changing into a form that is more contagious to people. Human cases from the lethal H5N1 avian flu strain more than doubled in 2005 as the animal illness spread further in Asia and to Eastern Europe.
Turkish Health Minister Akdag said there was no sign that the virus was spreading between humans yet. All those suspected of having the virus had close contact with sick birds, he said. Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said there were unconfirmed reports of sick birds coming from regions of Turkey other than the three eastern provinces known to have cases. Some 1,100 birds would be destroyed in the Igdir region, Eker told reporters in Ankara before he flew to the area today.
A hunting ban was put into effect in eastern Turkey today, the Forestry Ministry said. The ban may be expanded to other regions, the ministry press office said.
Eating Sick Chicken
The 14-year-old boy and his siblings probably became infected because they played with the severed head of a diseased chicken, the Sabah daily reported, citing unidentified government officials.
Eastern Turkey is mostly rural and depends on agriculture and animal husbandry for a living. Most people in rural Turkey raise chickens and other fowl in their backyard, which they kill themselves and eat.
``Access of the public to information on bird flu and education are very crucial in fighting the disease,'' said WHO's Ganter. ``In situations of poverty, people may eat sick chicken because it's their only source of protein.''
The average income per person in Igdir is about one third of the national average, according to the government statistics agency. Turkey's average income per capita is one third of the European Union.
One of the largest poultry companies in Turkey has urged the government to ban free-range poultry meat production in Turkey to prevent the spread of the virus. Chicken and turkeys raised in protected and sterilized shelters of the big poultry companies are safe from catching the virus from migratory birds, said Banvit Bandirma Vitaminli Yem Sanayii Ticaret AS in a statement on Jan. 2.
The spread of the virus to other regions of Turkey may hurt its tourism industry, the second biggest source of foreign currency for the country after textile exports.
``It's too early to fear a negative impact because it's very local and a remote region is in question,'' said Haluk Burumcekci, chief economist of Fortis Bank AS in Istanbul. ``It won't scare tourists away at this stage, but we have to see whether it widens.''
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey said a second teenager infected with avian flu died, indicating the virus that's killed at least 74 people since 2003 has moved outside East Asia to the threshold of Europe.
A 15-year-old girl who died earlier today and her 14-year- old brother who died on Jan. 1 both had avian flu, said Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at the hospital where the children died. The hospital, in the eastern city of Van, is treating nine others suspected of having the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus.
The deaths come less than two weeks after Turkey reported a second wave of avian flu in poultry and mark the virus's westward progression from China and Southeast Asia. Authorities are concerned Turkey hasn't done enough to prevent human infections, which increase the risk of the virus changing into a pandemic form that may kill millions.
``Turkey and Western Europe have had months and months of warnings about this virus being on the way,'' Peter Cordingley, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Manila, said over the telephone today. ``We had hoped that it would be contained to poultry and wild birds. To see what appear to be signs of human cases is a big disappointment.''
Another child was admitted with similar symptoms at about 3:30 p.m. Istanbul time, said Ahmet Faik Oner, head of the pediatric unit in Van hospital. CNBC-e television reported that five new cases were sent by the Dogubeyazit hospital today. Oner couldn't confirm the other transfers immediately. The switchboard for the Dogubeyazit hospital didn't answer.
The child admitted today was a relative of some of the children already under treatment, Oner said.
Some Van hospital staff complained of the lack of preparedness and the slow pace of reaction from government officials. Turkey's Health Ministry earlier ruled out avian flu as the cause of symptoms -- including pneumonia and bleeding from the throat -- in four patients.
No Quarantine
``There's still no official quarantine in the hospital,'' said Naime Binzet, a nurse working in the pediatric unit that's treating seven cases. ``We haven't been given proper equipment, and not everybody is able to take the preventive medicine.''
Chief physician Sahin said there was no need for quarantine because there was no risk of transmission between people. They emptied the children's ward just because parents were panicking, Sahin said in a phone interview. Bernardus Ganter, at WHO's Copenhagen office, disagreed.
``Of course quarantine of human cases in hospitals is required,'' said Ganter, Regional Adviser on Communicable Diseases in Europe, in a telephone interview. ``Children should be in an isolation ward; doctors, nurses should be wearing special gowns.''
Contact With Chickens
An initial local shortage of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu drug meant delays in treating the patients with the antiviral medicine, Sahin acknowledged. The country has enough supplies of Tamiflu to treat new cases and there is no reason to panic, Health Minister Recep Akdag told reporters in Ankara yesterday.
The country's health ministry said yesterday it was treating two teenagers infected with the H5N1 avian-flu strain. Confirmatory tests are being undertaken by WHO and a U.K. laboratory.
All 11 of Turkey's suspected cases, including the siblings who died, are from Dogubeyazit, a town on the Iranian border, and came into contact with chickens that died of unknown causes, hospital officials said.
The virus was confirmed last week in birds in a town 50 miles north of Dogubeyazit. The town is about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away from the European continent in the easternmost corner of Turkey.
About 1,200 chickens, geese, turkeys and ducks kept in four backyards in the village of Kopruler in Igdir province died last month from bird flu, Turkey said in a Dec. 27 report to the World Organization for Animal Health.
Killing Birds
Authorities are concerned new outbreaks among birds create opportunities for human infection and increase the risk of the virus changing into a form that is more contagious to people. Human cases from the lethal H5N1 avian flu strain more than doubled in 2005 as the animal illness spread further in Asia and to Eastern Europe.
Turkish Health Minister Akdag said there was no sign that the virus was spreading between humans yet. All those suspected of having the virus had close contact with sick birds, he said. Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said there were unconfirmed reports of sick birds coming from regions of Turkey other than the three eastern provinces known to have cases. Some 1,100 birds would be destroyed in the Igdir region, Eker told reporters in Ankara before he flew to the area today.
A hunting ban was put into effect in eastern Turkey today, the Forestry Ministry said. The ban may be expanded to other regions, the ministry press office said.
Eating Sick Chicken
The 14-year-old boy and his siblings probably became infected because they played with the severed head of a diseased chicken, the Sabah daily reported, citing unidentified government officials.
Eastern Turkey is mostly rural and depends on agriculture and animal husbandry for a living. Most people in rural Turkey raise chickens and other fowl in their backyard, which they kill themselves and eat.
``Access of the public to information on bird flu and education are very crucial in fighting the disease,'' said WHO's Ganter. ``In situations of poverty, people may eat sick chicken because it's their only source of protein.''
The average income per person in Igdir is about one third of the national average, according to the government statistics agency. Turkey's average income per capita is one third of the European Union.
One of the largest poultry companies in Turkey has urged the government to ban free-range poultry meat production in Turkey to prevent the spread of the virus. Chicken and turkeys raised in protected and sterilized shelters of the big poultry companies are safe from catching the virus from migratory birds, said Banvit Bandirma Vitaminli Yem Sanayii Ticaret AS in a statement on Jan. 2.
The spread of the virus to other regions of Turkey may hurt its tourism industry, the second biggest source of foreign currency for the country after textile exports.
``It's too early to fear a negative impact because it's very local and a remote region is in question,'' said Haluk Burumcekci, chief economist of Fortis Bank AS in Istanbul. ``It won't scare tourists away at this stage, but we have to see whether it widens.''
