Turkey reports first bird flu victims

TURKEY-announced yesterday that two teenagers from the same family died from bird flu in the east of the country, the first known human fatalities from the deadly disease outside of Southeast Asia and China, as officials scrambled to contain the outbreak.

Fatma Kocyigit, aged 15, died yesterday, five days after her 14-year-old brother succumbed to the virus in the same hospital in the town of Van, the pediatrician treating them, Ahmet Faik Oner, was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. “Two people have therefore died of bird flu in Van,” the doctor said.Fatma and her brother, Muhammed Ali Kocyigit, had been hospitalised at the weekend with fever, coughing and bleeding from the mouth after coming into contact with chicken that had been slaughtered after showing signs of the bird flu.They are the first known human fatalities from the disease outside Southeast Asia and China, where it has killed more than 70 people since late 2003, nearly 40 of them in 2005 alone.Twelve other people, including two members of the Kocyigit family, were being treated yesterday for bird-flu like symptoms, a senior health ministry official, Turan Buzgan said.They were being given Tamiflu, the only anti-flu treatment that has proved at all effective against the H5N1 virus strain.The death rate for the deadly flu is 58 per cent, according to health authorities. – Nampa-AFP”Two people have therefore died of bird flu in Van,” the doctor said.Fatma and her brother, Muhammed Ali Kocyigit, had been hospitalised at the weekend with fever, coughing and bleeding from the mouth after coming into contact with chicken that had been slaughtered after showing signs of the bird flu.They are the first known human fatalities from the disease outside Southeast Asia and China, where it has killed more than 70 people since late 2003, nearly 40 of them in 2005 alone.Twelve other people, including two members of the Kocyigit family, were being treated yesterday for bird-flu like symptoms, a senior health ministry official, Turan Buzgan said.They were being given Tamiflu, the only anti-flu treatment that has proved at all effective against the H5N1 virus strain.The death rate for the deadly flu is 58 per cent, according to health authorities. – Nampa-AFP