Fresh bird flu cases reported in Turkey

Fresh bird flu cases reported in Turkey


Dogubayazit, Turkey: Two more children have contracted the bird flu virus in Turkey, prompting claims that the government is mishandling the crisis in remote parts of the country. The World Health Organization confirmed that two more children have been infected with the H5N1 strain, making four confirmed human cases in Turkey.
Two teenage siblings in the east of the country died from the virus earlier this week ? the first human infections outside of south-east Asia and China.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan asked has asked residents not to hide poultry to escape bird flu culls. But those living in eastern Turkey said efforts accused the government of being disorganised.
"We apply to the officials but they don't come to take our chickens. I cannot bring them myself. I have no money," said one man in the town of Dogubayazit, where the dead children lived.
Despite the news, trade in poultry defiantly continues in some parts of Turkey.
In the town of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, one resident who bought a Turkey from a street seller, said: "We don't have bird flu in this city."