Bird flu cases detected in Istanbul’s Kartal, Arnavutköy: Report

ISTANBUL

CİHAN photo

Bird flu cases have been detected in both the European and Anatolian sides of Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest metropolitan city, according to a report.

Authorities have found traces of the bird flu virus in wild birds in both the Kartal and Arnavutköy district, located respectively on the Anatolian and European sides of the city, daily Milliyet reported on July 2. 

The authorities banned upland hunting in the city until the end of September in order to prevent possible transmission of the virus from wild animals to poultry.

The incident came after bird flu cases were seen in Turkey’s western province of Balıkesir in May.

On May 4, Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has said all the necessary precautions have been taken after bird flu was detected in Balıkesir, adding the area surrounding the region’s poultry facilities had been quarantined.

The bird flu virus was detected in samples of dead chickens taken by the Veterinary Control Institute of the Ministry of Food, after at least 40,000 chickens died in four months in the province’s Bandırma district.

Müezzinoğlu said May 4 in a press conference that all necessary precautions had been taken in Bandırma, adding that no additional measures were currently needed.