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More Bird Flu Reported in Turkey

Preliminary tests show another Turkish child is infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu, raising the total number of human cases in that country to 21. The Turkish Health Ministry in Ankara says the child is in the hospital in the city of Erzurum. The child?s identity has yet to be disclosed, but it is known the child is from Dogubayazit, the hometown of the other four children who have died from bird flu infection.

Officials say samples taken from the child are being sent to a World Health Organization lab in Britain for analysis and independent confirmation. Although concerned the virus may mutate into a strain that can easily pass from person-to-person, the WHO has yet to possess evidence that person-to-person infection is taking place in Turkey. The children who were previously infected in Turkey were reportedly to have contracted the virus after tossing around bloody heads of infected, killed chickens like toys.

Meanwhile, after reports of the hospitalization of a child with flu in the north of Iraq, that country was checking for signs that the bird flu has arrived in-country. This week also saw the testing of flu sufferers in Jerusalem, Israel for signs of the H5N1 strain of avian flu, and Japan has in recent weeks reported cases of bird flu as well.