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EU Team In Turkey To Investigate Bird Flu Outbreak


17 October 2005 -- Two European Union experts arrived in western Turkey today to help investigate an outbreak of bird flu in the area.

Turkish veterinary authorities say 10,000 birds have been culled in the village of Kiziksa, and that the outbreak of bird flu there has been contained. Officials also say there is now no danger that the virus could spread, as the incubation period of the disease already has passed.

The EU team is to visit Kiziksa tomorrow. The European Commission has warned that the EU will propose "drastic measures" if current safeguards against bird flu prove insufficient.

The virus found in western Turkey was the deadly H5N1 strain that killed millions of birds and about 60 people in Asia since 2003. The same strain has been confirmed in Romania.

Health authorities around the world fear that the strain could mutate into a form to be easily passed among people and cause a pandemic.

(AP)

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