An 11-year-old Turkish girl died today of suspected bird flu, state-run Anatolian news agency said, citing a senior hospital official.
If confirmed, it would bring the number of people who have died from the deadly H5N1 virus in Turkey to five over the past two weeks.
Sevgi Acar died on the way to a hospital in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum. She came from the province of Mus.
Tissue samples had been sent to a World Health Organisation approved laboratory in Ankara, Ataturk University hospital chief Dr. Akin Aktas told Anatolian news agency.
Aktas said doctors were monitoring another child from Dogubayazit who tested positive for H5N1 yesterday, bringing the total number of positive cases in Turkey to 21, including four confirmed deaths.
The four dead Turkish children are the first bird flu human fatalities outside China and Southeast Asia since the deadly virus reemerged in late 2003.