Bird flu claimed its first human victims outside East Asia this week.
On Thursday, Fatma Kocyigit, 15, died in a hospital in Turkey's eastern region. Her 14-year-old brother, Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, died four days earlier.
The children, who raised poultry on a small farm near the Iranian border, were admitted to the hospital last week after developing high fevers and bleeding in their throats. Nearly a dozen other patients went to that hospital with similar symptoms and are being tested for bird flu.
Tests from Turkish labs indicated that the teens had the H5N1 strain. Samples have been sent to a British lab for confirmation.
Since December 2003, the bird flu virus has killed 74 people, mostly farm workers. Experts say there's no evidence to indicate that the virus has spread from human to human.
This Article is from MyDNA.com
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