A 14-year-old Turkish boy who was one of six people tested for bird flu has died and his sister was in a critical and worsening condition, doctors said.
Authorities were still waiting for test results and could not immediately confirm whether the boy's death on Sunday was caused by bird flu. If confirmed, it would be the country's first human fatality from the virus.
"It can't be known whether the disease is bird flu or not before the test results is announced in Ankara," Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at 100th Yil Hospital in the country's southeastern Van province, told the Anatolia news agency.
Authorities were expecting preliminary test results yesterday. Four other children and a 35-year-old woman suffering from fever and pneumonia-like symptoms have also been tested for the bird flu virus over the past two days.
Birds in Turkey, Romania, Russia and Croatia recently tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain in birds, but no human cases have been detected.
The 14-year-old boy, Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, had been on life support after his brain functions stopped, Sahin said. Authorities said they would keep the boy's body at the hospital's morgue as a precaution until after the test results, Anatolia reported.
The boy was among two brothers and two sisters between six and 15 years old who were admitted to hospital on Saturday after developing high fevers, coughing and bleeding in their throats. The children helped to raise poultry on a farm and were in close contact with sick birds. They became sick after reportedly eating one of them.
Two other patients, aged 35 and five, were sent to the same hospital on Sunday, the Anatolia news agency reported, as Turkish health and security authorities gathered to coordinate a response.
One of Kocyigit's sisters, Fatma Kocyigit, was in critical condition, Sahin said.
"Two of the children's situation is critical," chief physician Huseyin Avni Sahin had said just hours beforehand. "This doesn't mean it is bird flu. Bird flu is one of the possibilities."
Sahin said it was too early to call their illness bird flu and the hospital was awaiting test results.
The World Health Organization says poultry is safe to eat in areas affected by the virus so long as it is properly cooked and handled during preparation.
Turkish authorities last week said some chickens had tested positive for an H5 variant of bird flu and placed parts of an eastern town, Aralik, near the border with Armenia, under quarantine. The sick brothers and sisters are from the town of Dogubeyazit, just 60km south of Aralik.
"Right now, there is nothing to worry about," Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said.
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
RSS