December 2, 2005

Romania tests eight chickens positive for bird flu

Authorities have quarantined a Danube Delta village near the Ukrainian border after eight chickens have tested positive for the H5 subtype of bird flu, the Agriculture Ministry said Thursday.

All domestic fowl in the village of Periplava will be culled and incinerated, the ministry added. The Ukrainian embassy has been notified of the outbreak.

Further tests will determine whether the virus is the deadly H5N1, which is tracked for fear it could mutate into a form that is easily transferable to humans.

Romania has already confirmed the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the delta villages of Ceamurlia de Jos, Maliuc and Caraorman. The virus is believed to have been brought by migratory birds which have arrived in the delta, a large wetland reservation, from Russia.

The virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 68 people in parts of Asia since 2003.

In Europe, birds have tested positive for H5N1 in Romania, Russia, Croatia and Turkey.