A U.S. team of influenza experts arrived in Turkey's eastern Erzurum province on Friday to try to help fight bird flu, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

"We are here to see and learn what has been done so far. And we are trying to see what we can do to help Turkey," U.S. Department of State Adviser Ann Derse, who heads the team, was quoted as saying.

The 12-member team, consisting of experts in animal and human health surveillance, laboratory capacity and public health communications from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agency for International Development, Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of State, is expected to proceed later on Friday to eastern Van province which is hit hard by bird flu, according to Anatolia.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government vowed on Friday to continue to do its best to fight bird flu.

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said at a Bird Flu Assessment Meeting in Ankara that Turkey is carrying out all possible measures to ward off the bird flu scare.

Akdag was joined at the meeting by Turkish Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker, who said that combating bird flu was a comprehensive and important matter.

Some of the precaution measures have been taken, including distribution of booklets and leaflets, ban of transportation of animals, except racehorses and ban of winged animals sale in open markets, Eker said.

Eker also pointed out that there is a three-step chain in the transmission of bird flu, namely wild birds, domesticated birds and human beings.

"The first step is the carrier wild birds and the second is the domesticated birds which have contacted with the wild birds or their feces. This is the reason of contamination in Turkey," said Eker.

"The third step is the humans. The middle step is very important because they are transmitting the disease from wild birds to human beings. So, we need to review our production system immediately," Eker added.

So far, there are 21 people confirmed of infecting bird flu in Turkey, among whom four children have died since.

Turkey has culled 1.107 million fowl to combat bird flu spread in the country, Turkish National Coordination Center for Bird Flu announced on Thursday.

According to the center, bird flu was detected in 13 provinces and 24 localities in Turkey while suspected bird flu cases were reported in 28 provinces and 73 localities.

The virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed about 80 people in Asia since its latest outbreak in late 2003.

Experts fear that the disease, which currently jumps from birds to humans, might mutate into a form that can easily transmit among humans, which would lead to a global pandemic, killing millions.

Source: Xinhua