New flu strain spreads to Turkey and India

WHO says global death toll at 72

* Schools closed after cases found in Kobe, Japan

By Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL, May 16 (Reuters) - Turkey and India confirmed their first cases of H1N1 flu on Saturday, all involving air passengers arriving from the United States.

Thirty-eight countries have now confirmed cases of the new flu strain, a mix of swine, human and avian viruses, which last month prompted the World Heath Organisation to raise its global pandemic alert level to 5 on a 6-point scale.

The western Japanese city of Kobe said it would close some public schools for a week after eight people were confirmed as being infected with the new H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu.

Three of the eight were teenage students from the same school -- the first confirmed cases in Japan involving people who had not been overseas. The other five were from another school, Kyodo news agency said.

The WHO, whose data lags national tallies, had earlier put the number of confirmed worldwide cases at 8,451, with 72 deaths.

The vast majority of deaths -- 66 -- have been in Mexico, where the outbreak started. The United States has reported four, and Canada and Costa Rica one each.



FAMILY QUARANTINE

Turkey identified its first two cases in a married couple travelling to Iraq from the United States, health officials and local media said.

A 26-year-old American man, travelling via Amsterdam, was found to be suffering from the virus after arriving at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport en route to Iraq on Friday, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said. Thermal cameras at the airport detected that he had a high fever.

Authorities later determined the man's wife was also infected, the NTV television channel said.

The pair were quarantined along with other family members and were under observation at a Turkish research hospital, where they were being given anti-viral medication, Akdag said.

The Iraqi-American family was travelling on a KLM aircraft to Istanbul that was carrying 163 passengers, most of whom are now being monitored for signs of the flu, said Akdag.

"We know of the existence of a few (passengers) whom we've been unable to contact," Akdag said. "They need to be alert so that they can be given preventative medicine and in order to protect others."

"Everything is under control," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters. "Everything is being monitored closely."

India's health ministry on Saturday confirmed its first case of the H1N1 flu, in an Indian man who had travelled from the United States, via Dubai, to the southern city of Hyderabad.

"He was identified at the screening at the airport and was quarantined, and his samples were drawn and they have tested positive," said health official Vineet Choudhary.

Those close to him had been isolated and their health was being monitored, Choudhary said. His co-passengers on the flight to India were also being tracked down. (Additional reporting by Jason Rhodes in Zurich and Matthias Williams in New Delhi; writing by Mark Trevelyan)

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