Turkey’s farm ministry confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in the southeast of the country. Four children suffering from bird flu like symptoms are under observation in hospitals.
The Health Ministry said samples from the four children were being analysed. Three of them ? aged two, three and 16 ? in Batman and a one-year-old boy in neighbouring Diyarbakir.
The ministry said in a statement bird flu was found on Thursday in a village in the Batman province. Authorities said 170 poulty died from the disease.
The latest outbreak of the virus was detected on Feb. 5, in the village of Bogazk?y in Batman, where health authorities said they have quarantined three villages and culled about 1,650 birds since then. Final results from a laboratory in Ankara confirmed the deaths were linked to the H5N1 strain of the virus – avian bird flu virus, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement yesterday.