H5N1 'most likely' to have killed Turkish teen

A Turkish teenager who died of bird flu most likely succumbed to the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, a senior World Health Organisation official said today.

Samples have been tested by two different laboratories in Turkey and “it turned out to be positive, and because it’s so specific it’s unlikely we’re dealing with false positives”, said Guenael Rodier, a special adviser on communicable diseases at WHO’s European headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“There’s no reason to believe it’s wrong.”

Specimens are now on their way to centres in Britain which work with the Geneva-based UN health agency, where the initial test results will be confirmed, Rodier said.

The victim’s sister also succumbed to the disease today.

Authorities were still trying to determine if she had contracted the H5N1 strain.

If confirmed, the brother and sister would be the first people outside Asia to die of the H5N1 strain in the latest outbreak.