Turkish bird flu 'may be endemic' 

Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Posted: 9:43 a.m. EST (14:43 GMT)

(CNN) -- The bird flu virus could become endemic in Turkey and poses a serious risk to neighboring countries, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says.

"The virus may be spreading despite the control measures already taken," Juan Lubroth, senior FAO animal health office, said Wednesday.

The FAO statement came as Turkey set up a bird flu crisis center in its capital Ankara and the World Health Organization said two more people had died from bird flu in China.

Meanwhile Germany's Agricultural Minister Horst Seehofer said Wednesday that Germany "very likely" will require all birds be kept indoors to prevent bird flu in the country. Last year bird owners were required to keep their animals indoors for several months in a similar precaution.

"Far more human and animal exposure to the virus will occur if strict containment does not isolate all known and unknown locations where the bird flu virus is currently present," Lubroth said in the FAO statement.

He called upon neighboring countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Iran and Syria to be on high alert, to apply surveillance and control measures and to ensure that the public was fully informed about the avian influenza risk.

The FAO added it had sent a team of experts to Turkey to support the authorities in their bird flu control efforts.

"Turkey needs to apply a centrally coordinated and country-wide control campaign based on efficient local actions carried out in a transparent manner.

"Infected poultry should be reported immediately and all internationally recommended control measures should be used in outbreak areas, including humane culling, strict isolation and, if and when appropriate, vaccination," Lubroth said.

Turkey confirmed a 15th human case of the deadly virus in that country on Tuesday. The rapid rise in cases -- with three children dead -- has put experts and neighboring nations on high alert.

However, a World Health Organization official told Turkey there was "no reason to panic." European Regional Director Marc Danzon told a news conference in the Turkish capital Ankara that the country was taking "appropriate and satisfactory measures" to handle the outbreak.

The WHO's Roy Wadia in Beijing said on Wednesday the deadly H5N1 strain killed a 10-year-old girl from Guangxi province in the south of the country, while a 35-year-old man died in eastern Jiangxi province.

The latest deaths brings the country's total bird flu death to five.

Bulgaria has veterinarians and border officials on notice, and Greece is stepping up checks and disinfections at its main border crossing.

More than 70 people have died from the disease since it emerged in 2003, all but three of those in Asia.

The latest case in Turkey was a 37-year-old woman who lived in the east-central province of Sivas and was exposed to diseased chickens, according to the WHO.

Two of the 15 -- children from the same family -- died last week, the first known bird flu deaths outside of China and Southeast Asia.

A third sibling also died, but the cause of death was never determined. Christine McNab, a spokeswoman for the WHO, told CNN that health officials assumed the child had died of bird flu, but no tissue samples were taken that could prove that.

Up to another 100 suspected cases were under investigation, officials said Tuesday.

The Turkish government has sent teams to 21 of the country's 81 provinces to begin mass killings of infected poultry.

In Istanbul, the country's largest city, two of the poorest areas were placed under quarantine, and residents were ordered not to transport poultry from the area.

The 13 surviving victims who have tested positive for H5N1 in Turkish laboratories are awaiting confirmatory test results from the WHO.

McNab told CNN in a telephone interview that investigators were trying to determine why so many people had been infected so quickly.

"It might be because children were home for the holidays, maybe playing with birds around the house, and sick birds are easier to catch," she said.

Most of the confirmed cases are in children, and the Turkish government has initiated a campaign to teach people how to limit their exposure to diseased animals.

The latest outbreaks of the disease in poultry have been reported in Izmir, the country's third-largest city, and in Isparta, according to the provinces' governors.

Outbreaks among poultry have been identified from east to west and in the north of Turkey.

The government has begun distributing leaflets in affected areas to educate people about the disease; its crisis center in Ankara is fielding calls from people worried about their livestock or themselves.

During the Muslim Eid al Adha period -- a key Islamic feast day on which animals are slaughtered -- imams are also helping in the effort, dispensing information about the virus during morning prayers at mosques in the affected areas.

But officials said some people, fearful of the economic loss, were hiding their fowl to prevent them from being culled.

·  The European Union decided Wednesday to extend its monitoring of wild birds and poultry until the end of 2006 in an effort to prevent the further spread of bird flu. The EU program was to have run out at the end of January. The EU's executive office also freed up $2.4 million to increase laboratory testing for bird flu.