Romania reports possible bird flu outbreak

A second suspected outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been reported in Romania, according to the Sanitary and Veterinary Authority on Saturday (March 27).

According to reports, samples of two dead hens were sent for confirmation of the potentially deadly H5N1 virus to the Animal Health Institute in Bucharest and on to the Weybridge laboratory in Britain.

The poultry in the small private farm at a village on the Danube Delta were slaughtered and the area disinfected.

Two weeks ago, a bird flu outbreak was reported in the nearby village of Letea close to the Ukrainian border, the first case in Europe for a year. The previous case in the EU had been confirmed in March 2009 in a wild duck shot during a hunt near Starnberg, in Bavaria, southern Germany.

Meanwhile, Romania was hit by massive bird flu outbreaks in 2005 and 2006, when more than a million poultry were slaughtered, according to reports.