May 19, 2006

Romania confirms H5N1 in Brasov

The H5N1 bird flu strain has been discovered in a central Romanian city, the Agriculture Minister said Thursday (May 18).

In the past week the virus has been detected in a total of 10 communities.

Minister Gheorghe Flutur said a chicken in the major city of Brasov tested positive for the virus late Wednesday. Tests for the virus were also being conducted in 27 other communities, he said.

The latest outbreak of bird flu was discovered over the weekend at a farm in the central town of Codlea, prompting authorities to recall 220 tonnes of meat from stores nationwide and cull all the birds in 20 communities where birds from the farm were sold.

A European Union panel of veterinary experts agreed Tuesday to ban imports of poultry and poultry products from five counties in central Romania until the end of the year.

Codlea was put under a quarantine Wednesday for a period of six days. Eight of the 10 localities where bird flu has been detected are in the central county of Brasov where authorities have culled thousands of birds in recent days.

In Bucharest, where there have been no reports of bird flu, but Mayor Adriean Videanu Wednesday called on district mayors to step up monitoring efforts to prevent a possible outbreak in the capital.

Since October, Romania has had dozens of cases of bird flu in household farms.