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Turkish girl dies from suspected bird flu The Star, 16 Jan 2006 |
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VAN, Turkey (Reuters) - A Turkish girl has died from suspected bird flu in eastern Turkey, authorities said on Sunday. The authorities are still waiting for results of tests on the teenager, who has been in serious condition for several days, to see if she died from the virus that has already claimed the lives of three children in the same area. |
"She (Fatma Ozcan) died. I will be making a statement shortly," Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief doctor at Van hospital in eastern Turkey, told Reuters. The H5N1 virus has been found in wild birds and poultry across large parts of Turkey, particularly in poor villages stretching from Istanbul at the gates of Europe to Van near the Iranian and Iraqi borders. |
The Turkish victims are the first human cases reported outside east Asia since H5N1 reemerged in 2003. The virus still mostly affects birds but has infected about 150 people and killed at least 78. |
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