Bird flu incubation period over in Turkey, officials say

Avian flu H5N1 in Turkey has been identified as the same virus that killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and forced the slaughter of millions of birds.

“The incubation period is over because the disease emerged last week ... if it were to infect anybody, it would have already done that,” CNN Turk television quoted the Health Ministry’s parasitic diseases director Ramazan Uzun as saying.

Uzun said there was no risk to human and animal health in the Manyas district, which is one of the country’s largest migrating bird sanctuaries and where a farm tested positive for avian flu.

The Turkish government had taken all the necessary measures against the disease, Uzun said.

The deputy governor in charge of Manyas, Halil Yavuz, said the district would be in quarantine until Oct. 29 and this period of time would not be extended.

Nine people kept under observation at a hospital in western Turkey for possible bird flu have been allowed to go home after tests did not detect an infection.

“The nine people were sent from hospital after their blood tests showed that they were not infected,” the official told Reuters.

Blood tests were taken from the two families in the western town of Turgutlu after 40 of their pigeons died in 15 days. Some of the dead birds had also been sent away for testing.

The agriculture ministry reported Saturday that the death of wild pigeons in Istanbul was not related to avian flu.

“The laboratory tests and examinations show that the cause of death among the wild pigeons was not avian influenza,” the ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters.

Turkish officials have said the country faces no general public health threat and have appealed for calm.

But the country’s top veterinarian Mustafa Altuntas urged caution and said the country would be at risk from migratory birds that will return from Africa in spring.

“The regions with wetlands are the places that need the utmost caution,” Altuntas said in a news conference.

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