December 26, 2005

 

Romania quarantines two villages after bird flu discovery

 

 

Authorities Friday quarantined two villages in southeast Romania after four chickens tested positive for an H5 subtype of bird flu, an official said.

 

The virus was first detected late Tuesday in quick tests in the village of Stelnica, some 140 kilometres east of Bucharest, in a sign the virus was turning up west of the Danube Delta, where the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was first confirmed in October.

 

"The virus was confirmed by the national laboratory and today we began the isolation of the affected area," said Gabriel Predoi, who heads the National Animal Health Agency. He said about 900 birds will be culled in 26 farms in the village by the end of the day.

 

Friday, the H5 virus was also detected in quick tests on poultry in a household in the nearby village of Stefan Voda, the Agriculture Ministry said.

 

Samples from the villages will be sent to the UK for further testing to see if the virus is H5N1, which is being tracked worldwide out of fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted to humans.

 

Birds in Turkey, Romania, Russia and Croatia recently tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain in birds, but no human cases have been detected on the continent.

 

Predoi said the low temperatures and snow falls in recent days will probably force migratory birds to leave the Danube Delta region.

 

Romanian authorities have ordered villagers around the country to keep domestic birds indoors and issued stiff fines for those who disobey. Testing and monitoring of domestic fowl has been expanded to a larger area, especially along migration routes.

 

So far Romanian authorities have killed 55,000 domestic birds in areas where the virus has been detected. The culling, compensation and other measures have cost authorities EUR3.6 million.