Turkey said yesterday that its bird flu outbreak had infected 14 people, while dozens more sought hospital tests, adding to fears that the disease is moving westward towards mainland Europe.
However, the World Health Organisation said the victims appeared to have contracted the virus directly from infected birds, allaying fears it was now passing from person to person.
China confirmed its eighth human infection from bird flu yesterday, the latest victim a six-year-old boy from the central Hunan province who is being treated in hospital. EU member states also voted to extend a ban on imports of untreated feathers from countries that are on the eastern borders of Turkey - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre here is monitoring the Turkish avian flu outbreak. At present, recommendations on travel, personal protection and food safety remain unchanged.
About 5,600 domestic flock owners and 1,100 commercial producers have registered under the Department of Agriculture's scheme to combat the threat of bird flu introduced in November.
While December 31st was the closing date for registration, a department spokesman said last night it was still encouraging flock owners to register. He said the purpose of the scheme was to ensure that if there was an outbreak here, the department would know the location of every flock in the State. "That would enable us to take actions such as isolating fowl in affected areas or if we need to get information to flock owners, we will know where they are," he said.
Registration under the scheme is obligatory but the spokesman stressed that those who came forward at this stage would not be penalised. The department was confident that the vast majority of bird owners had registered.
Authorities in Germany said checks to ensure a ban on Turkish and Asian poultry imports were being vigilantly implemented. Some media outlets reported that officials stopped and searched buses coming from eastern and south-eastern Europe into the German state of Hesse.
Bird flu has killed 74 people in east Asia since the latest outbreak in late 2003. Indonesia said local tests showed a 39-year-old man had died from the virus earlier this month after contact with dead chickens. If confirmed, it would be the 12th death in Indonesia.
Worried Turks went to hospitals yesterday for tests for the virus - 13 children were among 23 people undergoing tests in Istanbul.
Experts fear the H5N1 strain will mutate just enough to allow it to pass easily from person to person. If it does so, it could cause a catastrophic pandemic, killing tens of millions of people, because humans lack immunity to it. - (Reuters, PA)