Turkish bird-flu patient improves

A four-year-old boy – one of 21 people infected with the deadly strain of bird flu – has recovered and was discharged from hospital while another boy listed as critical was showing improvement, Turkish doctors and officials said today.

As the government moved to control the outbreak in poultry by culling fowl and as a government education program relaying the message to avoid contact with sick birds began to kick in, experts said they expected fewer cases of human infections to emerge.