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ANKARA, Jan 5 (AFP): Two teenagers from the same family have died from bird flu in eastern Turkey, the first known human fatalities from the deadly disease outside Southeast Asia and China, a doctor who treated the siblings said Thursday.
Fatma Kocyigit, aged 15, died at 6:30 am (0430 GMT) Thursday, five days after her 14-year-old brother succumbed to the virus in the same hospital in the town of Van, the pediatrician, Ahmet Faik Oner, was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
"Two people have therefore died of bird flu in Van," the doctor said.
He said the girl had been in a critical condition since Wednesday.
Authorities confirmed late Wednesday that the boy, Muhammed Ali Kocyigit, had died from bird flum on Sunday.
It was the first known human fatality from the disease outside Southeast Asia and China, where it has killed more than 70 people since late 2003, nearly 40 of them in 2005 alone.
Seven other people, including two other members of the Kocyigit family, are still being treated in Van for bird flu-like symptoms. They are being given Tamiflu, the only anti-flu treatment that has proved at all effective against the H5N1 virus strain.
Health Minister Recep Akdag said Wednesday night that members of the family had eaten diseased chickens.
The Kocyigit family is from the remote town of Dogubeyazit, near Turkey's borders with Iran and Armenia and about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Aralik, a village on the flight path of migratory birds blamed for the spread of the epidemic.
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