Beijing: A donors' conference in Beijing is expected to raise more than $1 billion dollars as nations around the world step up the battle for a possible bird flu pandemic.
The World Bank is co-hosting the conference along with China and the European Union, with 80 nations and 20 organizations set to attend to raise money to counter a threat growing by the day.
"In this challenge we have no choice. We're being put to the test like never before," said David Nabarro, UN Co-ordinator for avian flu.
The EU said it had pledged $100 million towards fighting the spread of avian flu.
The World Bank says nearly half the money would be spent in Southeast Asia, where the virus is already well entrenched.
Since the bird flu emerged in Asia in 2003, more than 70 people have died and millions of chickens and birds have either been killed or culled.
People have caught bird flu in China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, of which roughly half have died.
Just this year, migratory birds spread the disease to Turkey, where four people have died, the first known deaths from the virus outside of Asia.
Another 20 people in Turkey have caught the virus, with health officials saying they apparently all touched or played with birds.
A 12-year-old girl who died Sunday was the latest casualty of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, health officials said.
Fatma Ozcan died of bird flu-like symptoms in the eastern city of Van, said Dr. Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at the Van University Hospital.
Her 5-year-old brother, Muhammad Ozcan, also tested positive. Both siblings had contact with sick birds, The Associated Press quoted officials as saying.
Also Monday, the government's bird flu crisis center said the country has slaughtered 764,000 fowl nationwide in its effort to contain the outbreak, AP reported.
Human cases have been reported in nine of Turkey's 81 provinces. Officials have confirmed poultry outbreaks in 11 provinces and are investigating possible outbreaks in another 14 provinces.
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The US State Department said America has sent a team of influenza experts to Turkey to assess how to help its ally battle avian flu.
The US Centers for Disease Control has already sent two experts to Turkey to work with the WHO at its request.
Avian flu has spread rapidly across Asia and into eastern Europe. World health officials fear the disease may spread through migratory birds flocking to the region or from the transport of domestic birds.
Experts say the deadly H5N1 virus poses the biggest threat in the colder months in affected regions, and could also spread in east Asia as people celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Then, hundreds of millions of Chinese will be on the move, potentially spreading bird flu in a country where the disease has spread rapidly among birds since late last year, and five people have died.
"The Chinese government has learned from the SARS experience, they know the movement of people particularly with infected birds is going to be a big challenge for them," said Margaret Chan, assistant director general of the WHO.
"They would be well advised to enhance their measures."
In Indonesia, a 13-year-old girl also appears to have died from the virus, while two of her siblings tested positive.
It test results are confirmed, she would be that country's 13th bird flu fatality.
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