Officials confirm cases of bird flu in Turkish capital

OFFICIALS have confirmed three cases of the deadly strain of bird flu in the Turkish capital Ankara.

They are the country's first suspected cases outside the eastern city of Van, triggering fears that the virus is spreading in Turkey.

Meanwhile, a British laboratory a confirmed the deadly strain in a five-year-old boy, while preliminary tests in Turkey detected H5N1 in an eight-year-old girl. Both children are in intensive care in Van, about 60 miles from the Iranian border.

The Ankara cases, affecting two young brothers and an adult, raised to seven the number of cases detected since Wednesday.

A brother and sister in Van also were found to be positive for H5N1 in the preliminary tests, Health Ministry official Turan Buzgan said.

The H5N1 strain has killed at least two Turkish children in recent days - a 14-year-old boy and his 15-year-old sister - the first human fatalities from the virus outside east Asia in the current outbreak.

Tests are still being carried out to establish if a third sibling, an 11-year-old girl, also died from the virus.

If confirmed, the two children and an adult who were hospitalised in Ankara, would be the first cases of H5N1 found outside the vicinity of Van.

World Health Organisation spokeswoman Maria Cheng said from Geneva that she was aware of the report of the cases in Ankara, but that WHO had yet to be officially informed.

"We don't have any information about cases actually in the capital," Ms Cheng said, adding that WHO representatives were meeting with Turkish officials and she hoped to have more information.

Dozens of people who had recently been in close contact with fowl have been hospitalised and are being tested for bird flu across Turkey.

A delegation of WHO representatives, European officials and Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag travelled to Van yesterday to assess the situation.

Meanwhile, Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, urged Russians not to travel to eastern parts of Turkey because of the bird flu outbreak, according to a statement released last night.

The doctor who treated the children who died said they probably contracted the illness by playing with dead chickens.

Authorities are closely watching H5N1 for fear it could mutate into a form easily passed among humans and spark a pandemic. Birds in Turkey, Romania, Russia and Croatia have recently tested positive for H5N1.