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First tests show no flu in Turkey

Pelicans take off from a flock of thousands at the edge of Manyas Lake near the quarantined village of Kiziksa, western Turkey, on Sunday. Turkish authorities said the virus in Kiziksa had been contained, but warned migratory birds could still spread the flu elsewhere. PHOTO: AP

Authorities investigating the deaths of about 1,000 chickens in eastern Turkey said that initial lab tests showed no signs of bird flu, and that an outbreak in the western village of Kiziksa had been contained.

Veterinarians from the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday that nearly 10,000 birds had been killed in Kiziksa following a mandatory order to deliver them for destruction. Authorities are on alert across Turkey, however, and have warned that migratory birds could still spread the flu elsewhere.

Inital lab results found no traces of bird flu from samples taken after about 1,000 chickens died in a flock of about 6,000 in the town of Patnos in Agri Province near the border with Iran.

Ufuk Dinler, head of a Veterinary Research Institute, told the Anatolia news agency that according to early test results, it did not "resemble" bird flu, saying final results would be available in five or six days.

Still, authorities in Agri Province banned the entry of poultry into the province from other cities. The dead chickens were brought in for sale from the western province of Bursa and the central province of Corum. CHA news agency showed footage of people in Patnos hurling hundreds of dead chickens onto a truck using shovels or their bare hands, and not using any protective gear. The area had not been placed under quarantine.

"We've seen dead chickens in the streets of Patnos for more than a week," teacher Mahmut Sahin said. "The municipality workers were collecting them."

Meanwhile, the country's military informed its members about safety measures to be taken against bird flu on its Web site.

Up to 1,000 chickens were also reported to have died in the past 15 days in a village near Halfeti, a town in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa. Halfeti Governor Ahmet Odabas said that the chickens may have been poisoned from pesticides, adding that tests would determine the cause of death.

The virus found on a farm near the western Turkish village of Kiziksa, some 120km from Istanbul, was the deadly H5N1 strain that has decimated flocks in Asia and killed dozens of people there. Although H5N1 is highly contagious among birds, it is difficult for humans to contract. Still, it has killed about 60 people in Asia, mostly poultry farmers infected by birds.

Results on Saturday of tests on wild birds found dead in Romania's Danube delta confirmed they had died of the H5N1 strain.

Turkish officials insist the virus has been contained and a Health Ministry official said on Saturday there was no longer a danger that the virus detected at the farm could spread.

"As the diseased appeared a week ago, the incubation period is over," Health Ministry official Ramazan Uzun said. "Had there been a new infection it would have manifested itself by now."

But experts believe the disease was brought by wild birds migrating through Turkey from the Ural Mountains in Russia to Africa. Mustafa Altuntas, the head of an association of Turkish veterinarians, said there was a risk of new outbreaks in other parts of Turkey, especially near wetlands.

After the disease was found on the farm in Kiziksa, authorities ordered all poultry within a 3km radius of the village to be delivered to authorities to be gassed, disinfected and buried. Throughout the week, farmers could be seen marching across the village with sacks full of birds, pulling them out with their bare hands and insisting that their animals were "perfectly healthy."

Meanwhile, Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche is donating 20,000 packs of its anti-influenza drug Tamiflu to Turkey and 2,400 packs to Romania, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported yesterday. Roche, which has said it is increasing production of Tamiflu as quickly as possible, has also given three million packs to the WHO, the paper said. Tamiflu is the most effective anti-viral drug available for avian flu, and governments are rushing to build up stocks.
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