# 434
In what is hopefully nothing more than a precautionary move, authorities have, according to local media reports, quarantined 3 villages in the impoverished Batman province of Turkey. Local reporters state they have not been allowed into these villages.
This from zKurmus, on Flutrackers, who translated a local news article.
Batman'da kuş gribi alarmı
Feb 8, 2997Batman’ın Gercüş İlçesine bağlı Boğazköyde kuş gribinin tesbiti sonrasında 3 köyde karantina uygulaması başladı. Rahatsızlanan 4 çocuk hastanalere kaldırıldı
Translation:
Bird Flu Alarm In Batman
After finding Brid flu virus in Batman's Gercus municipality's Bogazkoy village, 3 villages have been quarantined. 4 children who got ill have been hospitalized.
...
same info as the other articles, except that the reporters' are not being allowed in any of the villages
The following is reportage today from the Gulf Times - Qatar's newspaper. It indicates that paramilitary forces are preventing people from leaving at least one village.
Fourth child is taken to hospital in flu outbreak
Published: Saturday, 10 February, 2007, 09:35 AM Doha Time
BOGAZKOY, Turkey: A fourth child with flu-like symptoms has been taken to a hospital for observation after chickens died of bird flu in a village in southeastern Turkey, local officials said yesterday.
Turkey confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in the impoverished province of Batman on Thursday, a year after the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease killed four children in the region.
Agricultural authority workers in white protective suits and masks disinfected areas at the site of the outbreak in Bogazkoy, a hillside of simple one-storey houses, around which a 10km quarantine zone has been established.
Four children are under observation in hospitals, local officials said, three of them – aged two, three and 16 – in Batman and a one-year-old boy in neighbouring Diyarbakir.
The Health Ministry said samples from the four children were being analysed.
“The results of the tests on the four will be analysed at the Ankara ... centre and will be shared with the public. The general condition of those under observation is good. No patient has been confirmed as having bird flu yet,” the statement said.
The Agriculture Ministry said 170 chickens had died of bird flu in the village. Nearly 1,000 birds have been culled in Bogazkoy and two nearby villages. The ministry said it believed wild birds had spread the disease.
Teams of workers entered courtyards in Bogazkoy to collect chickens in black plastic bags. The birds were suffocated and dumped in piles by the road.
“The animals have been culled. There is no new case (of sickness) and there is no problem now in the village,” said the village headman in Bogazkoy, Isa Tumenci.
Paramilitary police manned checkpoints at the entrance to the village and villagers were not allowed to leave.
Thus far, I've seen no official word in the western press regarding test results on these four children. Some local Turkish press reports are downplaying the bird flu diagnosis.
We've seen villages quarantined before, last spring, in several countries. After the major outbreak last year, it isn't terribly surprising that the authorities are pulling out all of the stops.
Another area of the world to watch, but not to get terribly excited over at this point. For now, all we have is another outbreak in poultry, and four suspected cases, which may, or may not be H5N1.
UPDATED: 0640 hrs EDT
From the AP
ANKARA, Turkey: Three children tested negative for bird flu amid an outbreak of the disease in a Turkish village, while a fourth child was still undergoing tests, the Health Ministry said.
The children were hospitalized with flu symptoms Thursday, after 170 domestic fowl died in their southeastern village of Bogazkoy. Tests on Friday confirmed the birds were infected with the H5N1 virus strain.
Tests showed three of the children were not infected, the ministry said in a statement. Further tests were being conducted on the fourth patient, it said.
Authorities quarantined three villages and culled at least 1,650 birds since the outbreak in the Batman province.
