3 children test negative for bird flu amid outbreak in Turkish village

Three children tested negative for bird flu amid an outbreak of the disease in a Turkish village, while a fourth child was still undergoing tests, the Health Ministry said.

The children were hospitalized with flu symptoms Thursday, after 170 domestic fowl died in their southeastern village of Bogazkoy. Tests on Friday confirmed the birds were infected with the H5N1 virus strain.

Tests showed three of the children were not infected, the ministry said in a statement. Further tests were being conducted on the fourth patient, it said.

Authorities quarantined three villages and culled at least 1,650 birds since the outbreak in the Batman province.

Experts worry the H5N1 strain, which remains hard for people to catch, will mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to direct contact with sick birds.

During an H5N1 outbreak in Turkey in January 2006, 12 people were infected and four of them died.