A second Turkish teenager dies at hospital because of bird flu

A second Turkish teenager who tested positive for bird flu died at hospital on Thursday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. Turkish labs have reported two human cases of bird flu in preliminary tests: a teenage farm boy who died after developing pneumonia-like symptoms and his sister died early Thursday, Anatolia reported.

If the deaths are confirmed as being from the deadly H5N1 strain, they would be the first fatalities outside southeast Asia in the current bird flu outbreak.

More than 70 people, most of them farm workers in close contact with fowl, have died from the virus in Asia, where it also has devastated flocks, reports the AP. I.L.