Turkey culls 932,000 fowl to stem bird flu

Turkey culled 932,000 fowl in fight against the spread of bird flu, Turkey's National Coordination Center for Bird Flu announced on Monday.

According to the center, bird flu outbreak took place in 13 provinces and suspected cases were reported in 22 other provinces.

The provinces where bird flu was detected are as follows: Igdir, Erzurum, Agri, Sanliurfa, Erzincan, Bitlis, Yozgat, Ankara, Bursa, Istanbul, Van, Aydin and Kars.

The center also confirmed that a 12-year-old girl died of bird flu on Sunday, bringing to four the number of human deaths of bird flu in Turkey.

Fatma Ozcan, who died at the 100th Year Hospital in the eastern province of Van, has tested positive for the killer H5N1 virus.

Fatma's five-year-old brother Muhammed Ozcan has also tested positive for H5N1, but now is getting better.

Five of the 20 people who contracted the killer virus were discharged from hospital, added the center.

Source: Xinhua