March 17, 2010

First bird flu outbreak in EU

The first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in Europe for a year has been identified in a backyard poultry farm in Romania, the European Commission announced Tuesday (March 16).

The outbreak, in Tulcea county, close to the Ukrainian border, was discovered on Monday and prompted immediate security measures, the EU's executive arm.

These include the killing of all poultry in the infected farm and the establishment of a three kilometre (two mile) protection zone and a wider surveillance zone around the farm with strict controls on movements in or out.

The strain of bird flu which is currently causing concern is the highly pathogenic H5N1 which has affected many countries worldwide, including parts of Asia, Africa and Europe.

The Romanian case is the first detection of the highly avian influenza H5N1 in the EU in a year.

On Sunday at least 117,000 chickens were destroyed in northern Bangladeshafter an bird flu outbreak on one of the country's largest poultry farms.