Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

SE TURKEY--3 children with diarrhea test negative for H5N1

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: SE TURKEY--3 children with diarrhea test negative for H5N1

    How the story ends...

    Explore the latest Turkish news, including Turkey news, politics, political updates, and current affairs. Stay informed with our top headlines and in-depth anal

    Three children hospitalized in Hakkari after showing signs of bird flu infection have been cleared by tests

    ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

    Turkish doctors admitted three children to hospital on Wednesday with sings of possible bird flu such as vomiting and high fever, following unexplained deaths of dozens of winged animals in their village on the Iraqi border but later tests showed the children had not contracted the deadly bird flu virus.

    Hospital tests showed the children had only an infectious intestine disease, a doctor said. Turkish media reports said dozens of chickens were found dead in the children's village of ?z?ml?, on the Iraqi border, but Health Ministry officials and WHO said they were unaware of this. The doctor at a hospital in the eastern city of Van said the children were released from the hospital on Wednesday, a day after they were brought in with high fevers.

    The children, all younger than one-and-a-half years old were from Hakkari province. An outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain in eastern Turkey killed four children earlier this year.

    The children were forcefully taken to Van because their families objected. Doctors tried to persuade the families to allow them to take the children to Van and when failed to do so, police were called in.

    Bird flu is known to have killed at least 85 people and infected 160 since it re-emerged in late 2003. Local officials had confirmed 21 bird flu cases, which resulted in the death of four children, but later tests in Britain showed only 12 had the contracted H5N1. The WHO said it had found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus and no sign it was now spreading more easily from birds to humans.

    "The vast majority of cases have occurred in children aged 15 years or younger. This age pattern remains puzzling, as adult members in some families were engaged in such high-risk behaviors as the slaughtering of obviously ill birds, yet did not develop infection," the WHO said in a statement.

    This raised the possibility of a yet unidentified genetic or immunological factor influencing the likelihood of human infection. It remains relatively hard for people to catch, but experts fear it may eventually change in such a way as to be easily transmitted from person to person. Because people lack any immunity to it, it could sweep the world in weeks or months, killing millions.

    Turkey has culled 1.3 million birds in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The WHO said some additional human cases may occur in Turkey, but the numbers are expected to be small. The information indicating a smaller case load in Turkey would also mean that the four bird flu deaths -- now confirmed by laboratories in both Ankara and London -- would translate into a 33 percent mortality rate. This would be closer to death rates from the disease seen in Asia. In all, the virus has killed at least 85 people among 160 known cases since late 2003, according to the WHO.Scientists fear the H5N1 virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans and trigger a pandemic that, in a worst-case scenario, could kill millions around the world.

    Comment

    Working...
    X