The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the Turkmen government's efforts on preparedness for a possible bird flu outbreak in the country, which neighbors Kazakhstan where the virus resurfaced in March, irinnews.org reported on 12 April. "We are glad the government requested [the WHO] to visit. We have spent three days in [Ashgabat] visiting laboratories to look at the preparedness [level], if a case occurs," Bernardus Ganter, the WHO's regional adviser on communicable disease surveillance, told IRIN from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 11 April. Over 100 participants attended a seminar on bird flu, organized by the Turkmen Ministry of Health and the WHO European Regional Bureau, in the Turkmen capital on 4-7 April. The deadly H5N1 virus has yet to be detected in Turkmenistan. (www.irinnews.org, April 12)