Bird fly fears as Turkish child dies

One of five Turkish children being tested for bird flu has died and another is in a critical condition, the chief physician at the hospital where they were being treated said today.

Five children and a 35-year-old woman suffering from fever and pneumonia-like symptoms have been tested for the bird flu virus over the past two days.

The 14-year-old boy who died had been on life support after his brain function stopped, Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at 100 Yil Hospital in the country’s south eastern Van province, said.

“Two of the children’s situation is critical,” chief physician Huseyin Avni Sahin had said just hours earlier. “This doesn’t mean it is bird flu. Bird flu is one of the possibilities.”

Sahin said it was too early to call their illness bird flu and the hospital was awaiting test results from Ankara. Health Ministry official Turan Buzgan said those results could come as early as tomorrow.

“There are six cases. It’s viral pneumonia, and four of them could be related to a disease with poultry,” Buzgan said, adding that his ministry was carrying out quick tests and sending a health team to the region.

Four of the children – two brothers and two sisters between six and 15 years old – were admitted to hospital yesterday after developing high fevers, coughing, and bleeding in their throats.

The children helped to raise poultry on a farm and were in close contact with sick birds. They became sick after reportedly eating one of them.

The World Health Organisation says poultry is safe to eat in areas affected by the virus so long as it is properly cooked and handled during preparation.

The two other patients, aged 35 and five, were sent to the same hospital today.