Turkish teenager dies from bird flu
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
- 65th human bird flu case reported In Egypt
- Taiwan culls 18000 chickens due to H5N2 virus outbreak
- Bangladesh reports first human case of H5N1 bird flu
- H5N1 Avian Flu virus has mutated, study says
- Wild Canadian Goose tests positive for H5N1 in England
Thursday, January 5, 2006
A 14 year old Turkish male has died from bird flu in Turkey. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is most likely the teenager died from the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
The teenager's sister has also been infected with another sibling also suspected to have the virus. Eight other people, mostly from the same family have been hospitalized in the city of Van, Turkey with flu-like symptoms.
The children were from Dogu Beyazit, a farming town in eastern Turkey. It is believed that the children raised poultry on a small farm and may have been in contact with sick birds. The family also ate diseased poultry.
The young male was originally thought to have died from a pnuemonia related infection. Later tests revealed that the male had in fact died from bird flu.
According to Huseyin Avni Sahin, the head doctor of the hospital in Van where the teenager was treated, "(The boy) died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu". Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag gave no specific details and said samples had been sent to the WHO and Britain for more tests.
If the teenager is confirmed to have had H5N1, it would be the first death from H5N1 in Europe.
Huseyin Avni Sahin has requested more ventilators to treat the ill people.
While H5N1 remains difficult for humans to contract, authorities fear it may mutate into a form that is passable among humans. Such a mutation could kill millions of people around the globe.
Sources
- "Turkey confirms boy died from bird flu, first fatality outside Asia". Forbes, January 4, 2006
- "Turkey says dead boy had bird flu". CNN, January 5, 2006
- Gareth Jones "Turkish boy died from killer bird flu - doctor". Reuters UK, January 5, 2006
- "Bird flu death in Turkey". Channel 4, January 4, 2006
 Share this: |
 |
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. |
