January 31, 2006

 

Cyprus tightens controls after bird flu case

 

 

Cyprus was tightening controls to prevent bird flu on Sunday after tests on birds from the northern part of the island revealed they had died of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, a senior government official said Sunday.

 

"Cyprus is taking all the necessary measures to prevent the virus from entering the south," Agriculture Minister Timis Efthimiou said after an emergency meeting.

 

Poultry owners have been ordered to keep birds confined indoors, veterinary officials were carrying out island-wide inspections and all vehicles crossing from the north of the divided island into the south were being sprayed and disinfected.

 

Efthimiou stressed that crossings to the northern part of Cyprus would not be closed.

 

The island is divided by the Green Line between an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north since 1974, when Turkey invaded in the wake of an abortive Athens-backed coup by supporters of union with Greece.

 

The agriculture minister said the EU, of which Cyprus is a member, has not imposed any bans on poultry exports from Cyprus "because they are convinced that the measures taken by the authorities are satisfactory. There is no cause for panic."

 

The European Commission said Sunday that British laboratory tests found birds in the north had died of H5N1, the same strain that has killed four people in Turkey and infected at least 21 others.

 

"No live animals or animal products, including all poultry products and feathers, can be transferred across the Green Line or to the European Union," the EU executive said, adding that two EU experts would leave for the area to investigate the situation. The EU said it would be ready to assist with surveillance if needed.

 

Two suspected bird flu cases were found--in a chicken and a turkey--in the northern village of Makrasyka, or Incirli in Turkish, last week. The village, 18 kilometres (11 miles) east of the coastal town of Famagusta and just three kilometres (1.9 miles) from the Green Line, has been quarantined and authorities culled some 700 fowl there.

 

The prime minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, Ferdi Sabit Soyer, told reporters on Sunday that six other villages were put under quarantine after Incirli and local authorities were taking further measures in a 10-kilometre (6-mile) radius, Turkish Cypriot agency, TAK, reported.

 

Turkish Cypriot authorities banned entry or exit of winged animals in the villages of Incirli, Beyarmudu, Duzce, Turkmenkoy, Cayonu, Koprulu and Akdogan until further notice, he said.

 

Soyer said local authorities were testing samples from several areas but there has been no positive case so far, insisting that the case in Incirli was an isolated incident.

 

The Greek Cypriot south has so far reported no cases of bird flu.