A/H1N1 flu spreads in Turkey as gov't beefs up precaution

Turkey has seen cases of the deadly influenza A/H1N1 surge in the past weeks as the virus spread in the country and prompted the government to take increasing precautionary measures.

A 37-year-old woman died of A/H1N1 flu virus on Thursday in the central province of Konya, bringing the death toll of the flu to three in Turkey, the country's Health Ministry said.

Earlier on Thursday, the ministry said a 34-year-old woman died of the disease in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. The first victim of the flu in Turkey was a 29-year-old man in Ankara, who died last Saturday.

As of Thursday, 1,411 people in Turkey had tested positive for A/H1N1 flu since May, when the first case was reported in the country, according to the ministry.

The latest round of epidemic broke out in mid-October, when a student in an elementary school in the capital city of Ankara was diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu after returning from Scotland.

The school later was closed for a week to protect students from the threat of the disease.

As risks of a large-scale epidemic have been rising in the country, Turkish authorities have ordered school recesses and announced vaccination plans.

All education institutions, including pre-schools, elementary and secondary schools, private schools and study centers, took a recess Friday so that they were given four days of break to be disinfected against the A/H1N1 flu virus.

The one-day recess follows Oct. 29, a Turkish national holiday, and precedes the weekend; hence classes will be suspended for four days.

Local authorities have also announced a one-week recess for all schools in Ankara starting last Sunday, during which the schools were disinfected and Turkey's state-run television station broadcast live education programs.

Schools in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir and the southeastern province of Mardin have also been ordered to take recesses following outbreak of the flu.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry will launch vaccinations against the flu on Nov. 2, starting with health workers, as no adverse effects had been observed during vaccine tests, the Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman reported Friday.

The next group to be vaccinated will be pilgrims embarking on hajj over the next few weeks, said the report.

The first batch of vaccines, which amounted to 500,000 doses, arrived in Turkey last week.

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag has said vaccination of students would start in late November and end in January, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week the vaccination would be voluntary and parents would decide whether to have their children vaccinated, according to Today's Zaman.

Public transportation vehicles in various provinces were also being disinfected, the newspaper added.

The authorities were well prepared for the flu and people should not panic, Akdag was quoted by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News as saying.

Increasing sensitivity over the A/H1N1 flu epidemic had boosted sales of wet napkins, antibacterial gels and liquid soap by as much as 300 percent in Turkey, the newspaper reported Wednesday.