The World Health Organisation sought to allay panic following the death of three people in Turkey from bird flu, although it admitted the disease was now "at the doors of Europe." The disease has been "contained in one province" in the east of Turkey and "there is no need for excessive panic," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva.
A doctor in the eastern town of Van said a third child from the same family had died of bird flu there Friday, a further sign that the deadly disease that has already killed scores in Southeast Asia and China has now spread westwards closer to Europe.
It was not yet clear whether the deaths were caused by the H5N1 strain of bird flu blamed for the Asian fatalities.
WHO is putting the number of suspect case at 18, although the head of the hospital in Van had spoken earlier of 26 patients receiving treatment for bird flu-like symptoms.
Officials were still awaiting the results of further tests being conducted in London to determine whether any of the thousands of birds slaughtered in the village where the children lived suffered from the H5N1 strain.
Chaib said a team of five WHO experts was to arrive in Van on Friday.
"The initial hypothesis we are working on is that the children affected had dealt with diseased chickens and were thus infected," she said Friday.
But the experts "will also try to see if we are faced with the first case of human-to-human transmission, which would be the start of a flu epidemic."
Currently, humans are thought only to contract bird flu if they come into close contact with infected birds, but scientists fear that millions around the world could die if the virus crosses with human flu strains to become highly contagious.
Chaib said the test results from Britain were expected next week. In the meantime, the experts arriving in Van would help local authorities to take the right measures so those handling the sick would not be infected.
