Turkey battles to halt bird flu outbreak

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey reported another human case of bird flu on Tuesday as authorities sealed off areas around major cities Ankara and Istanbul while they culled poultry to halt the advance of the deadly virus.

Three children have already died in eastern Turkey -- the first reported deaths from the bird virus flu outside China and Southeast Asia. Dozens of worried Turks have rushed to hospitals for tests for the virus across the country of 72 million.

Turkey has reported that a dozen more people are infected with the virus, with confirmed cases as far west as the central region around the capital Ankara sparking fears the disease could spread to people in mainland Europe.

The outbreak has cast a cloud over Turkish celebrations of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, a major national holiday.

Snow and freezing temperatures in the east of the country are also hampering efforts to tackle the virus and may be allowing it to survive for longer.

Four people were taken to hospital with suspected bird flu in the town of Aydin near the Aegean coast -- one of Turkey's most important tourism centres - adding to concerns the outbreak will harm country's important tourist trade.

Authorities in neighbouring countries sprayed cars crossing from Turkey with disinfectant and checked luggage as they tried to stem the spread of bird flu.

Health experts say there is no evidence so far of human-to-human transmission of the virus, but fear the H5N1 strain could mutate enough to allow it to pass easily from person to person and spark a pandemic.

"The transmission is clearly from the infected birds to people in close contact with them," Denis Coulombier, from the European center for disease prevention and control in Stockholm, told Reuters TV. "At this juncture there is absolutely no evidence of any human-to-human transmission."

Health experts say the outbreak in Turkey is the worst since one in Hong Kong in 1997 when 18 people were infected and six died before it was brought under control. Bird flu has killed at least 76 people since it reemerged in late 2003.

POULTRY HIDDEN

The latest victim confirmed with bird flu was from the central province of Sivas, Anatolian news agency said.

The authorities have sent teams of veterinarians in protective white body suits to a number of regions to cull poultry, seen as the best method of checking the disease.

The mayor of the eastern village of Dogubayazit, home to the three children who died, said many people were hiding their poultry because they did not believe government promises that they would be fully compensated.

"Many lie to officials and when vets go to a particular house the wife does not give them up," Rauf Ulusoy told Reuters. "We can force them to hand over poultry under the law, but we are not using that method right now. We ask kindly," he said.

Parts of suburbs of the capital Ankara and the business hub Istanbul have been sealed off for the culling of poultry. Inhabitants leaving the areas have been disinfected.

Istanbul provincial agriculture chief Ahmet Kavak said almost 3,000 poultry had been destroyed.

Authorities said 12 of 23 people undergoing tests for bird flu in Istanbul had tested negative. There is concern the deadly virus could hit a teeming city of 12 million which is the country's commercial hub and gateway to Europe from Asia.

Turkey has stepped up an information campaign on how to deal with birds and called on locals to comply with culling regulations, particularly in the poor mainly Kurdish southeast. Sermons at mosques are also urging precaution.

Mukaddes Kubilay, a Kurdish local councillor in the Dogubayazit region, thinks the Turkish authorities have neglected her impoverished province, making it more vulnerable to the bird flu now ravaging it.

"How will people survive after their chickens are culled? What will they eat?" Kubilay asked. "The government has to find economic alternatives for the region."

(Additional reporting by Jon Hemming in Istanbul, Gareth Jones in Ankara, Umit Berktas in Dogubayazit, and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm)