A 12-year-old girl died of the killer H5N1 bird flu virus in Turkey on Sunday, the National Coordination Center for Bird Flu confirmed on Monday.

The total number of people who contracted the killer virus in Turkey rose to 20, including three who have died, said the center.

The center said Fatma Ozcan who died on Sunday at the 100th Year Hospital in eastern van province has tested positive for H5N1.

Meanwhile, five of 20 people, who have been in the hospital, were discharged after they were treated, added the center.

Fatma Ozcan's brother Muhammed Ozcan, 5, who is being treated at the Hospital, has also tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, but now he is getting better.

Two more children from the same region of Dogubeyazit, where three sibligs died of bird flu, were brought to hospital after they began showing the first symptoms six days ago, said doctors in the hospital, adding the children had been in contact with infected chickens.

According to the World Health Organization, anti-bird flu drugs work best if given in the first 48 hours after the onset of symptoms.

Meanwhile, 764,000 poultry have been culled in Turkey to fight bird flu, the center said.

Bird flu has been detected in 13 provinces across Turkey and there are suspected bird flu cases in another 16 provinces.

The first bird flu case was reported in Aralik town of eastern Igdir province on Dec. 26, 2005. The disease is also seen in cities of Igdir, Erzurum, Sanliurfa, Erzincan, Agri, Bitlis, Yozgat, Ankara, Bursa, Istanbul, Van, Aydin and Kars, the center said.

There is "risk" of bird flu in provinces of Mus, Ardahan, Izmir, Isparta, Konya, Karaman, Siirt, Karabuk, Sivas, Bayburt, Elazig, Diyarbakir, Eskisehir, Mugla, Batman and Malatya, the center added.

Bird flu cases in poultry and suspected cases in people began turning up in towns and villages hundreds of miles apart in every section of Turkey except the west.

Source: Xinhua