UN agencies advocate calm and containment to tackle avian flu

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Turkey's response to the outbreak of avian flu in the country, which has so far claimed the lives of two people, had been positive and that people should deal with the threat calmly. "The worst situation is a panic situation. There is no reason to panic," Dr Marc Danzon, WHO regional director for Europe, told reporters at a joint press conference with Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Wednesday. The WHO is trying to work out why avian flu has spread so quickly in Turkey. Two people have died from the H5N1 strain in the country and 13 are in hospital. The deaths were the first outside South East Asia, where more than 70 have died since 2003. Danzon said there were no signs that the deadly strain was being transmitted person to person. Health experts have warned of the possibility that H5N1 could mutate into a potent form easily passed between people, triggering a pandemic. The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) warned that bird flu could become endemic in Turkey and pose a serious risk to neighbouring countries. "The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 could become endemic in Turkey," the FAO said in a statement on Wednesday. The FAO called upon neighbouring countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Iran and Syria to be on high alert. They should apply surveillance and control measures and ensure the public is fully informed about the virus, it said. "Far more human and animal exposure to the virus will occur if strict containment does not isolate all known and unknown locations where the virus is currently present," FAO health officer Juan Lubroth said from the organisation's headquartes in Rome. The FAO has sent a team to Turkey to help efforts to control the virus. Turkey's government has ordered more than 300,000 fowl destroyed as a precaution and is considering a regional or even national cull of birds to contain the virus. Authorities are also distributing leaflets in eastern regions most affected by the outbreak, cautioning people not to touch birds, while television adverts urge washing of hands and clothes after contact with poultry. A Turkish journalist in the eastern city of Van told IRIN teams with loud hailers had been touring villages in the east telling people to give up their chickens, ducks, turkey and geese or face fines up to 100 YTL (US $74). The journalist said the cull was being largely supported by poor people in the region because compensation of up to 15 YTL ($11) was being offered per bird destroyed. Health officials said on Tuesday that most of the 70 or so people hospitalised with flu-like symptoms had tested negative for bird flu. Meanwhile, authorities in Europe were heeding FAO warnings and stepping up avian flu precautions on Wednesday. European Union (EU) countries have already banned imports of feathers, poultry products and live birds from Turkey. Epidemiologists from EU member states are to meet on Thursday in Luxembourg to review the spread of the virus. The EU's executive arm, the European Commission has announced it is extending its monitoring of wild birds and poultry until the end of the year and said it would contribute up to $2.4 million in funding for bird flu laboratory testing.