ROMANIA: Romania is accelerating a cull of domestic poultry and tightening quarantine restrictions in the Danube delta after receiving confirmation that two villages in the region have been struck with a form of bird flu that can be deadly to humans.
A British laboratory found the H5N1 strain of avian flu in three dead birds from Ceamurlia de Jos and is expected to discover the same in birds from Maliuc, 30 miles to the north.
Romanian police sealed off both villages and vets exterminated all their poultry.
The virus has killed birds in Turkey and at least 60 people in southeast Asia. Scientists fear it has the potential to mutate into a virus that moves easily between humans and could spark a devastating pandemic.
Romanian vets said they hoped to have gassed and incinerated all the chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks in Ceamurlia de Jos and Maliuc by last night.
"We have sent more doctors to the contaminated areas," health minister Eugen Nicolaescu said. "They will go from house to house to see how many people face the risk of being infected with the virus."
No cases of bird flu in humans have been detected in Romania, but with millions of birds heading for the delta on their autumn migration south, experts warn that the Black Sea region is only beginning its fight against the disease.Special measures have been introduced in six Romanian counties, with all vehicles being disinfected at checkpoints.
People have been told to keep poultry and pigs indoors and not to transport livestock, while live animal markets have been banned.
The European Union has banned the importation of live birds and poultry products from Romania and Turkey, a move copied by most countries in central Europe and the Balkans.
Romanian officials are co-ordinating their response to the avian flu crisis with their northerly neighbours in Moldova and Ukraine, which also host many migrating birds that rest and feed in the Danube delta, a Unesco world heritage site and biosphere reserve.
Bulgaria, which is sandwiched between Romania and Turkey, has stepped up border controls and surveillance over poultry farms along the Danube and Black Sea, according to chief veterinarian Zheko Baichev.
"We have made 500 blood tests on farm birds and checked 154 domestic and 100 wild birds found dead throughout the country," Mr Baichev said. "We have not isolated the bird flu virus."
