Bird flu: Ankara tries to allay western fears
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government wants to test vaccine stocks after a scandal involving local production of substandard doses.
Ankara (AsiaNews/Agencies) "There is no reason to worry," said Medhi Eke, Agriculture Minister for Turkey, responding to fears provoked especially in the West by the appearance of bird flu among birds in his country. "All security measures have been taken," added the Ankara minister; the authorities have quarantined a 3km area around Kiziksa in the province of Balikesir. This is the place where the first cases of bird flu were found. The virus struck a turkey farm, resulting in the death of 2,000 birds. According to the Agriculture Minister, this is an "isolated case" and the birds contracted the virus from migratory birds coming from the Manyas nature reserve.
Fears that the H5N1 virus, which caused the deaths, has crossed Turkish borders have been reinforced by the discovery of another 30 dead birds in neighbouring Romania, soon after three ducks suspected to have died of bird flu were found in the Danube delta. In anticipation of definite test results, vaccination of people has started in the area, several thousand chickens have been slaughtered and local authorities have imposed quarantine measures.
Meanwhile, today, the Indonesian government announced that it will test its vaccine stocks. The decision follows the emergence of suspicions that some local companies produced low-quality doses to increase their profit, a move which lowers the level of protection offered by the vaccine. It is suspected that this was done with the complicity of certain officials. The Agriculture Minister, Anton Apriyantono said there were nine cases of suspected corruption which implicated his ministry last year, involving around 72.9 million US dollars. The minister said some tests carried out in Java showed that the level of protection against the virus hovered between 11.8 to 28%.
In Asia, the virus has killed more than 60 people.
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09/03/2005
