Romania Confirms Bird Flu Outbreak East of Capital
Date: 23-Dec-05
Country: ROMANIA
The Agriculture Ministry said in a statement culling of about 1,100 domestic birds in the village of Traian had started.
Since October, Romania has found avian flu in 23 villages in or near the Danube Delta on the Black Sea where the deadly strain was first discovered, some 300 km from Bucharest.
Nine cases have been confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, and the ministry said it will send another seven samples from the east of the country to a British laboratory for tests.
H5N1 is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia where it has killed more than 70 people since late 2003.
Experts say a flu pandemic among humans could kill millions around the globe.
Last week Romania, which has not registered any cases of bird flu in humans, warned that migratory birds possibly carrying the virus were heading south towards Bulgaria.
The virus remains hard for people to catch, but there are fears it could mutate into a form easily transmissible among humans. There have been no cases in humans outside of Asia.
