Turkey Confirms Deadly Strain of Bird Flu

Politics | October 11, 2005, Tuesday // 00:00

Experts have confirmed that the cases of bird flu in Turkey are from the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, which has killed millions of birds and 65 people in Asia since 2003.

The news was broken by the Bulgarian anti-epidemic unit at the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

Yet, the probes of Romania's cases are not communicated publicly.

Meanwhile, France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called that European Union's health and foreign ministers should meet soon to coordinate their reaction to the spreading bird flu virus.

Douste-Blazy's call for a meeting came after the European Commission banned all imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey into the 25-nation EU on Monday after Ankara confirmed an outbreak of the highly contagious avian influenza.

"We can see that the H5N1 virus, this bird flu virus, is spreading and is arriving at our doors," Douste-Blazy told France 2 television.

Turkey and Romania reported new cases of the virus on Saturday and began culling thousands of birds to prevent the globally feared disease from spreading.

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