WHO Says Turkish Lesson Shows Little Warning Time On Bird Flu

WHO's director, Lee Jong-Wook, said the unique feature about the outbreak of avian flu in Turkey was the lack of prior warning about the infection in poultry.

Responding to what he said were concerns the WHO had exaggerated the threat of a human pandemic, Jong-Wook said the WHO was not overplaying the threat.

WHO experts plan to help countries near Turkey assess the risk of a bird-flu outbreak that they face. Those countries include Syria, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, China reported on 23 January that a tenth person had been diagnosed with the potentially fatal strain of the bird-flu virus. Some 82 people around the world have died of bird flu.

(Reuters, AFP)