- Hello, Jeff - At this point in time in Turkey, there
appears to be lack of human-to-human transmission. The demographics of
human cases appear to be mostly in children. As in Asia, and elsewhere
around the globe, most of the Turkish cases are caused by direct contact
with sick poultry.
-
- IF families hide poultry, and if risky behavior ensues,
such as children playing with sick or dead birds, the bird flu outbreak
will continue in hot zones and it will spread to other areas.
-
- Patty
- >From ProMed Mail
-
- WHO States No Signs of Human-To-Human Bird Flu in Turkey
-
- 1-9-6
-
- (Reuters) -- There are no signs that the avian influenza
virus spreading in Turkey is being passed among humans, the World Health
Organization (WHO) said on Monday [9 Jan 2006]. The WHO has confirmed 4
human bird flu cases in Turkey, including the deaths of 2 siblings last
week [1st week January 2006] from Dogubayazit in the eastern part of the
country.
-
- "At the moment, there is no element in this village
indicating human-to-human transmission. It's typically similar to what
we have seen so far (in East Asia)," Guenael Roider, head of the WHO's
Turkey mission, told Reuters Television. He was part of a team investigating
the avian influenza in the east of Turkey.
-
- Turkish authorities say 14 people have tested positive
for the deadly bird flu virus, including 3 siblings from Dogubayazit who
have died. The WHO said other cases had not so far been verified by laboratory
tests.
-
-
- World Health Organization (WHO), CSR, Disease Outbreak
News Avian Influenza Situation in Turkey - WHO update 2
-
- 1-9-6
-
- As of Mon 9 Jan 2006, Laboratory tests conducted in Turkey
have confirmed detection of the H5 subtype of avian influenza virus in
samples from an additional 10 patients. 5 of these cases were announced
by the Ministry of Health yesterday [8 Jan 2006], and an additional 5 were
announced today [9 Jan 2006]. Most patients are children, and all have
been hospitalized for treatment and evaluation.
-
- Of the 5 patients announced on Sunday [8 Jan 2006], 3
are from Ankara Province and include 2 brothers, aged 5 and 2 years, and
a 65-year-old man. All 3 patients are hospitalized in Ankara. The additional
2 cases, a 9-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother, are from the Dogubeyazit
district in Agri Province, and are hospitalized in the city of Van.
-
- The 5 cases announced today [9 Jan 2006] are from Kastamonu,
Corum, and Samsun provinces, bordering the Black Sea in the north-central
part of the country, and from Van Province.
-
- This brings the total number of cases in Turkey, confirmed
by laboratory tests there, to 14. Of these patients, 2 have died. WHO will
add these numbers to its cumulative total following further verification
by an external H5 reference laboratory.
-
- The quality of laboratory testing at Turkey's National
Influenza Center in Ankara is high. Results from tests conducted there
last week [1st week January 2006] were fully confirmed by a WHO collaborating
laboratory in the United Kingdom. WHO considers it likely that test results
on the newly announced cases will be confirmed by the UK laboratory, where
samples are being sent for further analysis. H5N1 is the only strain within
the H5 subtype known to infect humans. In the event of a confirmed H5N1
outbreak in birds, it is expected that human cases of avian influenza will
be caused by the same virus strain.
-
- The initial WHO team, accompanied by the Turkish Minister
of Health, arrived in Van Province yesterday [8 Jan 2006] evening. The
team is now investigating the epidemiological situation, assessing risk
factors and control measures, and discussing with local authorities the
possible need for additional equipment and supplies. The team will also
be assessing patients at the Van hospital, where some 38 people are currently
being treated and evaluated for possible H5N1 infection.
-
- The initial investigation has found no evidence that
the virus has increased its transmissibility or is spreading from person
to person. Most persons under investigation are children, often from the
same family, and almost all have a documented link to dead or diseased
poultry.
-
- Outbreaks in poultry are now known to be occurring in
several parts of the country. In recent days, the Ministry of Agriculture
has confirmed H5N1 outbreaks in birds in 10 of the country's 81 provinces.
Extensive culling is under way, and several other possible outbreaks are
under investigation.
-
- With the agreement of the Ministry of Health, 2 epidemiologists
and 2 experts in laboratory diagnosis will join the initial WHO team in
the next few days. Given the present high level of awareness of the disease
and its presence in poultry in several parts of the country, the number
of people concerned about possible exposure is expected to increase. This
additional support should expedite understanding of the epidemiological
situation and increase the capacity to rapidly confirm or rule out persons
under investigation for possible infection.
-
- http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_01_09/en/index.html
-
-
- Turkey - WHO Accepts 14 Human Cases As Confirmed
-
- 1-9-6
-
- (Reuters) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said
on Monday [9 Jan 2006] that it was now treating all 14 of the [human] cases
of avian influenza announced by Turkish authorities as confirmed. "We
are treating the 5 reported yesterday [8 Jan 2006] and the 5 reported today
as cases," said WHO spokeswoman Christine McNab.
-
- The WHO, which had previously put the confirmed cases
in the outbreak at 4, raised the total after Ankara gave details of laboratory
tests carried out on the other 10, she said. Samples from the 10 would
be sent to London for further examination, which is in line with the WHO
practice of seeking corroboration from a laboratory outside an affected
country. "The WHO is treating the 10 additional reported cases as
preliminary positive," said McNab.
-
- 6 of the 14 cases were from Agri and one from Van, in
the east of the country, 3 were in Ankara and 4 from other areas, mainly
northern provinces bordering the Black Sea, she said.
-
- http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_01_09/en/index.html
-
-
-
- Human Avian Influenza Virus Cases Spread in Turkey
-
- New Scientist Online
- 1-9-6
-
- Many more suspected human cases of avian influenza are
appearing in Turkey, prompting worries that the outbreak in birds may be
more widespread than thought. The new human cases are also spreading across
the country, edging further westwards towards Europe.
-
- The Turkish Ministry of Health has said there are now
14 human cases of avian influenza. Many more patients have been hospitalized
and are being tested for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. Some 30 patients
are being treated in a hospital in the eastern province of Van, where the
1st bird flu deaths occurred in a brother and sister in early January 2006.
Another sister from the same family is also thought to have died of bird
flu, but this has not yet been confirmed by laboratory tests.
-
- 100 people are awaiting test results for avian influenza
virus infection, including 10 in Istanbul. Only 4 human cases have been
confirmed in the lab, said the World Health Organization on Saturday [7
Jan 2006]. At that point, outbreaks had been confirmed in birds in 6 provinces
in eastern and southeastern Turkey. But by Sunday [8 Jan 2006] evening,
this had spread to 10 of Turkey's 81 provinces. There are now outbreaks
in the north and center of the country.
-
- The sudden outbreak of many cases among humans in Turkey
might suggest the virus had in fact been circulating in birds for some
time, suggests a WHO expert. Reports of H5N1 in turkeys in Turkey 1st emerged
in October 2005. Given the known number of bird outbreaks, the 14 human
cases since then appear disproportionately high, notes Klaus Stohr, coordinator
of WHO's influenza program. In east Asia, where there have been many bird
outbreaks, there have been 142 human cases of H5N1 since 2003.
-
- The disproportionate levels of human and animal cases
in Turkey points to 2 possibilities, Stohr said. Either the virus in Turkey
is a new strain that is more easily picked up by humans, or it is the same
strain but has been circulating for some time undetected. He says it is
less likely that the virus has mutated to a more virulent form, as there
was no increase in cases among the contacts of the 1st children who died
of the disease in Van province. "If we were dealing with a virus of
a different characteristic, with higher transmissibility between humans,
we would have 1st seen more cases among healthcare workers, among the playmates
of these children, more cases in the village, than what we are seeing now."
-
- He said it was more likely the disease was more widespread
than thought in birds and that surveillance had not picked this up. However,
he stressed that there was "currently too little data" to rule
out a mutation in the virus. A team from WHO arrived in eastern Turkey
on Monday [9 Jan 2006] to investigate.
-
- All the cases of bird flu in humans so far have followed
close contact with diseased poultry, says WHO. "Contact between people
and poultry has likely increased during the present cold weather, when
the custom among many rural households is to bring poultry into their homes,"
says WHO. "Tests have shown that the virus can survive in bird feces
for at least 35 days at low temperatures (below 4 C)."
-
- http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8554
-
-
- Turkey - Human Case Summary
-
- 1-9-6
-
- (Reuters) -- Health Minister Recep Akdag on Monday [9
Jan 2006] confirmed 14 cases of bird flu among human beings in Turkey,
including 3 children who died last week [1st week January 2006]. Here is
a summary of the cases confirmed by the ministry:
-
- (a) How many dead? -- 3 (children from same family in
Dogubayazit town, remote eastern Agri province).
-
- (b) How many living people confirmed to have the virus?
-- Up to 12: 6 in hospital in the capital Ankara; 5 in hospital in the
eastern city of Van; one in hospital in the northern city of Samsun.
-
- (c) How many people suspected of having the virus? --
78, including 23 in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city; 24 in Agri province;
and 10 in Van.
-
- (d) Sources: The World Health Organization (WHO) has
confirmed only 4 cases in Turkey to date, including 2 of the dead children.
All its confirmed cases were or are in Van hospital. Other figures are
from Turkish health officials.
-
- -- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
-
- ******
- [6]
- Date: Mon 9 Jan 2006
- From: A-Lan Banks <A-Lan.Banks@thomson.com>
- Source: Reuters Foundation AlertNet, Mon 9 Jan 2006 [edited]
- http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0965791.htm
-
-
- Turkey - 4th Sibling Free Of Disease
-
- 1-9-6
-
- (Reuters) -- A 6-year-old boy whose brother and 2 sisters
died of avian influenza virus infection last week [1st week January 2006]
was discharged from hospital on Monday [9 Jan 2006] after being confirmed
free of the disease, Turkish television reported. The boy was taken to
the hospital along with his siblings after the deadly disease struck their
home in a remote part of eastern Turkey. Though ill, he was found not to
have the deadly virus.
-
- His brother, 14, died on 1 Jan 2006, and his sisters,
15 and 11, died a few days later. The 6-year-old boy is the only surviving
child of the Kocyigit family.
-
- _____
-
- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
-
- Greater clarity and consistency is gradually emerging
in identification and enumeration of the human cases of avian influenza
virus infection in Turkey. Hopefully, within the next few days, consistency
will emerge. So far, children have predominated among fatal cases of the
disease, and there has been no apparent transmission of virus between family
members, although siblings have been infected. Healthcare and agricultural
workers have not featured as victims of infection. These features suggest
that the transmissibility of the H5N1 avian influenza virus remains unchanged.
- Mod.CP
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, DVM, PhD- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural
- Economics
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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