Turkey scrambles to contain outbreak

TURKEY yesterday raced to contain an outbreak of bird flu and reassure the world it had the potentially fatal illness under control.

Preliminary tests have showed at least 15 people - two of them children who have died - were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.

Health officials handed out leaflets and imams blared warnings from mosque loudspeakers in the mostly Muslim country, which has recorded the first human deaths outside eastern Asia, where bird flu has claimed 76 lives since 2003.