US bird flu team to travel to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia

The team, set to travel to badly-affected eastern Turkey on Friday, was expected to leave for the three countries at the weekend, the spokesman told AFP, adding that their detailed schedule was not immediately available.

Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan's autonomous republic of Nakhichevan -- along with Iran -- share borders with eastern Turkey, where the outbreak started in December and has so far claimed the lives of four people.

The four victims all came from the remote eastern town of Dogubeyazit, near the border with Iran, which is also close to Armenia and Nakhichevan.

The US team will return to Ankara in the middle of next week to share their findings and observations with the Turkish government, the spokesman said.

Turkish officials have charged that some neighboring countries are hiding the presence of bird flu on their soil, without mentioning names.

"Countries with non-transparent regimes in particular are hiding the disease," Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker told NTV television Monday.

"Some countries around us, where we know that the disease exists, do not officially acknowledge that, either," he said.

Speaking after talks with Health Minister Recep Akdag here on Thursday, US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson praised Ankara's efforts to combat the outbreak, the Anatolia news agency reported.

"Turkey has done a good job," he said, adding that Washington may extend help in increasing the capacity of Turkish laboratories analyzing samples from suspected cases.

/Baku Today/