Brussels, 05/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - In cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Commission is keeping a close watch on the situation in Turkey after the deaths were announced of two people there from avian flu. These are the first human deaths from the illness outside the Far East. The European Commission is watching the situation in Turkey carefully, particularly on the epidemiological level, it said in a press release published on 5 January. It also draws attention to the embargo, since the beginning of October, on the import of live birds and feathers from Turkey. The EU does not import poultry from Turkey, apart from meat-based products whose processing at temperatures of over 70° kills the virus.
A spokesperson for the Commission said that early analyses carried out by Turkish laboratories had confirmed the contamination of four people with the avian flu H5 virus, which had caused the two deaths. The first victim, a 14-year old boy, died on 1st January in a hospital in Van, in the east of the country, from the effects of avian flu. The boy's sister, aged 15, died on 5 January, also from the virus.
Additional test are needed to determine if it was indeed the H5N1 virus which has been responsible for the deaths of more than 70 people in Asia since the end of 2003. The Commission said that samples from the birds suspected of transmitting the illness to humans will be analysed by the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, United Kingdom. The Commission spokesperson announced that the results of these analyses would be available in the next few days. Other samples, from the two dead adolescents, have been sent to the WTO reference laboratory in Colindale, United Kingdom.