Bird flu: Nine released from observation

Turkish officials carried out medical tests on nine people living in a neighbourhood where 40 pigeons reportedly died, but released the nine from medical observation today after determining it was unlikely they had bird flu.

Officials confirmed that earlier bird deaths in Turkey had been caused by the virulent H5N1 strain of the virus, which is easily transmitted between birds but difficult for humans to contract.

In Kiziksa, where the earlier flu deaths occurred among birds, veterinary officials in protective suits were culling the few remaining birds in the village.

They have already killed some 8,600 birds in the western Turkish village as a precaution, and vowed to kill all within a two-mile radius as a precaution against the spread of the H5N1 strain.

In the neighbouring province of Manisa, authorities put nine people under medical surveillance on Thursday after a man reported that about 40 pigeons had died mysteriously within the past two weeks, Anatolia news agency reported.

Samples from the pigeons were sent for laboratory testing in Izmir, western Turkey, the agency said.

The nine people, from two families, were kept in a hospital and underwent tests as a precaution, but were released earlier today, Anatolia reported.

Manisa health director Ziya Tay said it was unlikely that any had contracted bird flu, but added that blood samples from the nine were still being tested.

Aside from the bird deaths in Kiziksa, there have been no other bird flu cases diagnosed in Turkey.

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin addressed villagers in Kiziksa’s central square, urging them not to panic and saying “the virus was destroyed at its source.”

“If there are other precautions that we need to take, we will take them,” he said.

The European Commission said today it would send EU veterinary and laboratory experts to Turkey after the country requested help. The EU has banned poultry imports from Turkey and from Romania, where bird flu has also been detected.

H5N1 has infected 117 people in two years in Asia, and killed about 60 of them, though most were poultry farmers infected directly by birds. Experts are watching the strain’s migration, however, for fear that it could mutate into a form more easily transmitted between humans, and trigger a pandemic.

The World Health Organisation said today that the risk to humans was still “very low.”

To stop the disease from spreading, Turkey has banned the hunting of wild birds and banned live poultry sales in open markets.

Authorities were combing areas along the path of migratory birds for dead birds, and rushing any samples to laboratories for testing, Agriculture Minister Beytullah Okay said.

Turkey is on the path of migratory birds from Asia to Africa, and Turkish officials said they had been anticipating the possibility of bird flu. Last month they held a four-day dry run of measures to be taken in case of an outbreak.

The dry run, in co-operation with EU officials, was held in Bandirma, about 30 miles from Kiziksa, Okay said.

Bird flu was detected this week, after 1,800 turkeys died on a farm in the village, 80 miles southwest of Istanbul. An EU official confirmed yesterday that the disease was the H5N1 virus strain.

Turkish authorities believe the turkeys contracted the disease from migratory birds that pass through the Manyas Bird Sanctuary, outside the village, on their way to Africa from the Ural mountains in Russia. Previously, the closest H5N1 had been detected was in Siberia.

Authorities have established an observation ring around Kiziksa, where chickens were still running around dirt back roads, demonstrating the difficulties in trying to contain the disease. Officials are worried the virus could spread to some of the 10 million chickens on farms in the region.

Veterinary officials in protective plastic suits, masks and goggles were trying to catch Kiziksa’s remaining birds.

“Normally it would be over, but a few people are hiding their chickens,” one veterinary official said.

Farmer Aile Onat, delivering about a half-dozen ducks stuffed in two white bags to be slaughtered, said he found the killing pointless.

“They are perfectly healthy,” Onat said, as he handed the ducks over to veterinary officials who were gassing birds in a truck.