Turkish authorities have culled 600,000 wild birds and poultry to try to contain the bird flu crisis.(file photo)
BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Turkey on Monday extended the culling of poultry across the country following the death of a 12-year-old girl on Sunday who may have died from bird flu.
Her brother Muhammet was in critical condition in Van, the province worst hit by the outbreak that has swept Turkey since late December. He was diagnosed with the deadly H5N1 virus.
In the same town wherer the girl's family come from, three children have already died from avian flu, which was the first human victims reported outside east Asia since H5N1 reemerged in 2003.
Some worried that if the girl is confirmed to have died from the virus, it would bring the number of human cases in Turkey to 20.
Turkish authorities have culled 600,000 wild birds and poultry to try to contain the crisis.
The United States is sending a team of animal and human health experts to Turkey to assess the avian flu situation there. They will join experts already on hand from the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the FAO.
The WHO believes human victims have contracted the virus from close contact with sick chickens, in most cases children playing with birds or helping families kill them for food.
Experts say the H5N1 virus could become more active in the colder months in affected regions, and spread in east Asia as people slaughter chickens for Lunar New Year celebrations.
The potentially deadly virus has been found in wild birds and poultry over a third of Turkey, especially in villages reaching from Istanbul at Europe's gates to Van near the Iranian and Iraqi borders. Enditem
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