ANKARA, Jan. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Three people, receiving medical treatment in a hospital in the capital Ankara, have been tested positive for bird flu, semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

    Governor of Ankara Kemal Onal declared the new cases including two children and an adult, according to Anatolia.It was not immediately clear whether the three people had contracted the deadly H5N1 strain.

    The new cases were announced shortly after three children, all from one family, died of bird flu in eastern Turkey, two confirmed of infection of H5N1.

    Meanwhile, two other young children in a hospital in eastern Turkey have been treated for bird flu.

    Turkey reported its first bird flu outbreak in October 2005 in its northwestern region. The disease, confirmed as the deadly H5N1 strain, led to the culling of more than 10,000 birds.

    It is feared that bird flu, which currently jumps from birds to humans, can mutate into a disease that can easily pass among humans which would trigger a global pandemic.

    The H5N1 strain has so far killed over 70 people since it was first reported in Asia in 2003. Enditem