Possible concealing ofbird-flu outbreaks
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Printed Date: April 30 2024 at 11:34am
Topic: Possible concealing ofbird-flu outbreaks
Posted By: Guests
Subject: Possible concealing ofbird-flu outbreaks
Date Posted: January 20 2006 at 6:16am
Friday, Jan. 20
4:30 a.m.: Turkey's agriculture minister accused several neighboring countries of concealing bird-flu outbreaks and hampering an effort to prevent the spread of the disease. Preliminary tests indicate that 21 people in Turkey have been infected with the H5N1 strain, four of whom have died. The country has reported confirmed or suspected H5N1 outbreaks in poultry in 26 provinces, including areas near the borders with Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Georgia. Turkey also borders Bulgaria and EU member Greece. "We know through unofficial channels that the disease exists ... in neighboring countries, which are ruled by closed regimes," Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said during a meeting with governors of Turkey's 81 provinces. "These countries do not officially declare the existence of the disease." He didn't name the countries. "This is something that we need to be careful about," Mr. Eker said, urging governors of border provinces to be especially vigilant.
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Replies:
Posted By: phyrefly
Date Posted: January 20 2006 at 7:01am
Apparently, only communist ornithologists have migration and species information regarding North Korea, exacerbating the Alaskan in situ.
------------- Magpie Treads the Branch
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: January 20 2006 at 9:21am
Turkey Accuses Nations of Hiding Bird Flu
By SUZAN FRASER
The Associated Press
Friday, January 20, 2006; 7:29 AM
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's agriculture minister accused several
neighboring countries Friday of concealing bird flu outbreaks and
hampering efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
Preliminary tests indicate that 21 people in Turkey have been infected
with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, including four children who
died.
The country has reported confirmed or suspected H5N1 outbreaks in
poultry in 26 provinces, including areas a few miles away from the
borders with Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Georgia. Turkey also
borders Bulgaria and Greece.
"We know through unofficial channels that the disease exists ... in
neighboring countries, which are ruled by closed regimes," Agriculture
Minister Mehdi Eker said during a meeting with governors of Turkey's 81
provinces. "These countries do not officially declare the existence of
the disease." He did not name the countries.
"This is something that we need to be careful about," Eker said, urging governors of border provinces to be especially vigilant.
Syria rejected the accusation, saying it had taken precautionary
measures to prevent the disease's spread, including imposing a
two-month ban on the import of fowl from all countries and tightening
border controls.
"Syria is free from bird flu despite allusions from Turkey that
neighboring countries are hiding that there have been some infections,'
Syrian Agriculture Minister Adel Safar said.
On Monday, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned bird
flu might have already arrived in countries bordering Turkey, urging
authorities in those nations to step up efforts to detect possible
outbreaks.
The FAO, however, has no evidence of any outbreaks in Turkey's
neighbors, said Juan Lubroth, a senior officer at the Rome-based
agency's animal production and health division. A joint team from the
World Health Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health
will visit the region next week to assess the needs of Turkey's
neighbors and "get a sense of whether they are on top of it or not,"
Lubroth said.
The team will visit Iran and Egypt and was setting up trips to Syria and the Caucasus countries.
As part of efforts to control the outbreak in poultry, Turkey's
government has imposed quarantines, destroyed 1.1 million fowl and
launched campaigns warning people to avoid contact with sick birds,
Eker said.
By killing birds, Turkey hopes to limit contact between people and
poultry in this largely rural country where most villagers raise
chickens, turkeys and geese.
The WHO said Thursday it expected fewer people to become infected
with bird flu in Turkey. Most of the cases in the country thus far have
involved children and teenagers.
Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form spread easily among
humans, triggering a pandemic capable of killing millions. The virus
has killed at least 79 people in east Asia and Turkey since 2003.
Experts on infectious diseases from the U.S Agency for International
Development visited Erzurum, eastern Turkey, on Friday as part of a
tour of affected areas to assess how Washington could help the country.
"We are here to learn about what is happening and what has been done
and to see how the United States, a strong friend and ally of Turkey,
can assist," Ann Derse, the head of the delegation, told reporters.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Abdulatif Sener announced new measures
to help the poultry industry, which has seen a 70 percent plunge in
sales since the crisis started. The $3 billion industry employs 100,000
people.
The measures include compensating professional poultry farms for the
destruction of 14 million old chickens that no longer produce eggs.
Killing the chickens will cost $11.5 million.
The government will also defer debt, tax, social security and electricity payments, Sener said.
Authorities have urged people not to stop eating chicken and eggs from
professional poultry farms, saying the disease has been confined to
birds raised in the open in people's gardens.
Associated Press reporters Kadyr Toktogulov in Van, Turkey, and Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/20/AR2006012000492_2.html - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...12000492_2.html
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: January 20 2006 at 9:27am
Possible confirmation that my theory (that I have been doubting recently) may be true.
Turkey is obviously pointing its finger at Iran. If my theory
about a mild flu spreading westward from Thailand is correct, many of
the human cases came from Iran and are continuing to move westward. It
is not as easily spread as normal flu or a cold, but it is Human To
Human. Possibly spread via physical contact (kissing, hugging?)
Previously I had posted that it looked like it had swept across India
but was labeled Anything But Bird Flu and also called "Mystery Illness."
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: January 20 2006 at 10:07am
PLEASE NEUTER YOUR PETS
DONATE YOUR TIME TO THE SHELTERS BLANKETS PET FOOD
WE NEED TO ADVOCATE FOR PEOPLE TO SPRAY AND NEUTER THEIR PETS
IF THE FLU HITS THE ANIMALS WOULD SUFFER FIRST
THANK YOU
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Posted By: TNbebo408
Date Posted: January 21 2006 at 6:28am
The folks on this site are not the kind of folks to let their animals run wild and overpopulate.
This forum is not dedicated to animal issues, get over it.
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