Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

[Gert van der Hoek]

Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

BUCHAREST, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Romania discovered an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus in the Danube river delta at a small farm on Wednesday, officials said.

The head of the National Sanitary Veterinary Agency ANSV Radu Roatis said tests taken on samples from the dead birds revealed the presence of the H5N1 virus.

"The suspicion for the H5N1 was confirmed by the national laboratory. We discovered the virus in hens and ducks," Roatis told Reuters. (Reporting by Radu Marinas; Editing by Editing by Peter Blackburn)

http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2871446.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11280701/H5N1_Romania_2.html

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="95%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Bird flu found in Romania, 90 hens and ducks slaughtered
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="95%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=center><TD width=80 bgColor=#ffffff>28.11.2007</TD><TD bgColor=#ffffff>Source: AP ?</TD><TD bgColor=#ffffff>URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/101868-bird_flu-0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="95%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Romanian authorities had to slaughter 90 hens and ducks on a small farm in Romania's eastern Danube Delta to prevent bird flu from spreading. </STRONG />
Preliminary tests on 15 birds that died at the farm showed they were infected with the H5 subtype of bird flu, Tulcea county official Lefter Chirica said. </STRONG />
Further tests were being conducted in Bucharest to determine if it was the deadly H5N1 strain, which has killed dozens of people around the world, Chirica said. </STRONG />
No quarantine has been imposed around the farm, located in Murighiol, a delta village some 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of the capital, Bucharest. But authorities were disinfecting vehicles in the area, as well as the shoes of those traveling through on foot. </STRONG />
Since 2003, it has killed at least 206 people worldwide, and it has ravaged poultry stocks in Asia, where it was first detected. Scientists believe it spread to Europe and to Africa with migratory wild birds. </STRONG />
In Europe in recent years, H5N1 has been found in France, Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere. In Romania, hundreds of birds died of bird flu 2005 and 2006, many in the Danube Delta, but there have been no cases of human infection in Romania. </STRONG />
Human cases have been recorded in Turkey and Azerbaijan, though bird flu is difficult for humans to catch. Experts fear, however, that it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. </STRONG />
Experts believe most victims were probably infected through direct contact with sick birds. </STRONG />
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http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/28-11-2007/101868-bird_flu-0

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

Romania says bird flu found in Danube Delta, 90 hens and ducks slaughtered

The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

CONSTANTA, Romania: Bird flu was detected on a small farm in Romania's eastern Danube Delta, leading authorities to slaughter 90 hens and ducks to prevent the disease from spreading, officials said Wednesday.
Preliminary tests on 15 birds that died at the farm showed they were infected with the H5 subtype of bird flu, Tulcea county official Lefter Chirica said.
Further tests were being conducted in Bucharest to determine if it was the deadly H5N1 strain, which has killed dozens of people around the world, Chirica said.
No quarantine has been imposed around the farm, located in Murighiol, a delta village some 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of the capital, Bucharest. But authorities were disinfecting vehicles in the area, as well as the shoes of those traveling through on foot.
Since 2003, it has killed at least 206 people worldwide, and it has ravaged poultry stocks in Asia, where it was first detected. Scientists believe it spread to Europe and to Africa with migratory wild birds.
In Europe in recent years, H5N1 has been found in France, Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere. In Romania, hundreds of birds died of bird flu 2005 and 2006, many in the Danube Delta, but there have been no cases of human infection in Romania.
Human cases have been recorded in Turkey and Azerbaijan, though bird flu is difficult for humans to catch. Experts fear, however, that it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.
Experts believe most victims were probably infected through direct contact with sick birds.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/28/europe/EU-GEN-Romania-Bird-Flu.php

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

snips from OIE report:

Information received on 28/11/2007 from Dr Stefan Nicolae, Directeur G?n?ral , Direction G?n?rale, Autorit? Nationale Sanitaire V?t?rinaire pour la S?curit? des Aliments (ANSVSA), Bucuresti , Romania

Start date 27/11/2007

Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus

Serotype H5N1

Outbreak 1 Murighiol, TULCEA

Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed
Birds 80 31 31 49

Affected population backyard poultry

http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=6525

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

Bulgaria shuts markets after Romanian bird flu outbreak <!-- END HEADLINE -->
<!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->27 minutes ago


Bulgaria on Wednesday closed poultry markets in the northeast of the country after bird flu was detected in a village over the border in southeast Romania, the Agriculture Ministry said.
Bulgaria also banned keeping poultry outdoors and ordered measures to prevent wild birds from coming into contact with winter feed stocks, the ministry said in a statement.
Police were also instructed to monitor poultry transports and the veterinary services to intensify checks on poultry farms and on wild birds, the statement continued.
Earlier Wednesday, the Romanian national veterinary service ANSVSA said bird flu had been detected in a village on the Danube delta in south-east Romania.
Romania has been among the European countries worst hit by bird flu, with some 55 outbreaks of the disease in 2005 and another 150 in May 2006 in breeding farms in the centre of the country.
Health authorities responded by slaughtering over one million birds to prevent the disease from spreading further.
The virus is regarded as a global threat because scientists fear it could mutate into a form that is easily spread among humans, leading to a pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
Worldwide the H5N1 virus has killed 192 people out of 319 infected patients since reappearing in late 2003, according to a World Health Organisation toll published in July.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071128/hl_afp/healthflubulgariaromania_071128231650&printer=1;_ylt=AvmiVpvtkAoi1EC7sa8hGe6KOrgF

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

Location of outbreak

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=45.828799,33.398438&spn=6.536954,18.632813&t=h&z=6&om=0&msid=106484775090296685271.00044006025ab54446d23

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

H5N1 strikes poultry in Romania, Saudi Arabia

Nov 28, 2007 (CIDRAP News) ? Romanian veterinary officials today reported an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in backyard poultry at a town in the Danube delta, while Saudi Arabia's agriculture ministry announced a new outbreak at an egg farm in a town south of Riyadh, the capital.
According to a report filed today with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Romanian outbreak occurred at a farm near the town of Tulcea, in the country's eastern Danube delta. The outbreak killed 31 poultry, and the remaining 49 birds were destroyed. The affected flock consisted of hens and ducks, the Associated Press (AP) reported today.
The outbreak is Romania's first since June 2006, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Romania is the seventh European country to report an H5N1 outbreak this year, according to previous news reports.
In October, the FAO warned that apparently healthy ducks and geese in Europe could be harboring the H5N1 virus. Jan Slingenbergh, the FAO's senior animal health officer, had said that the agency was particularly worried about the areas of Europe near the Black Sea, which have high populations of chickens, ducks, and geese and are a wintering area for migratory birds from Siberia and other locations. He said Romania's Danube delta has about 4 million domestic ducks and 4 million domestic geese, a density similar to that of Asian countries where the virus is endemic.
In Saudi Arabia, officials said today that the country's latest H5N1 outbreak occurred at an egg production facility in Al-Kharj governorate, south of Riyadh, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.
All 216,000 birds at the farm will be culled, and farmers have been asked to block migratory birds' access to barns, feed warehouses, and drinking water, the KUNA report said.
The ministry said the latest confirmation pushes the number of recent H5N1 outbreaks in Saudi Arabia, which began on Nov 12, to 14, KUNA reported. One of the outbreaks occurred at a poultry market on the outskirts of Riyadh, according to a Nov 20 Reuters report. The H5N1 outbreaks come at a difficult time for Saudi Arabia, which is expecting a large influx of visitors from around the globe for the annual hajj pilgrimage season.
Elsewhere, animal health officials in Myanmar confirmed a recent H5N1 outbreak in backyard poultry in Shan state, near the Chinese border, according to a Nov 23 report to the OIE. The outbreak struck 2,058 birds, and the remaining 533 were destroyed. The report said the virus was probably transmitted from ducks to chickens within the village.
Myanmar's last reported outbreak occurred in October in Bago, 50 miles from Rangoon, the capital, according to the OIE.
Meanwhile, agriculture officials in Hong Kong announced that a little egret found in a park in Tuen Mun tested positive for the H5N1 virus, according to a Nov 24 statement from Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department. Hong Kong has confirmed the H5N1 virus in dozens of sick or dead wild birds this year, according to previous news reports.
Elsewhere, livestock officials in South Korea said a low-pathogenic H7N8 subtype of avian flu struck a duck farm near Kwangju, in the southern part of the country, according to a report submitted to the OIE on Nov 26. The outbreak began on Nov 21, the report said. Workers slaughtered 17,000 ducks at the farm, located about 205 miles southwest of Seoul, the capital, the AP reported on Nov 24.
See also:
Nov 28 OIE report on Romanian H5N1 outbreak


Oct 15 FAO summary


Nov 23 OIE report on Myanmar outbreaks


Nov 24 Hong Kong government press release


Nov 26 OIE report on South Korea H7N8 outbreak

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/nov2807birds.html

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

<TABLE class=lan18 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=hei22 vAlign=bottom height=25>Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Danube Delta

</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff height=4></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="50%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="48%">www.chinaview.cn 2007-11-29 02:51:11</TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="26%"></TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="12%"> Print</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="80%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=20></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=lt14 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=lt14>



BUCHAREST, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A bird flu outbreak was confirmed on Wednesday in a household based at Murighiol of Tulcea County, southeastern Romania.
According to the National Sanitary Veterinary Authority, the Romanian Institute for Animal Diagnosis and Health has confirmed the bird flu outbreak, the H5N1 virus strain, after a laboratory testing of samples taken from dead poultry in a household at Murighiol.
The virus strain, after being isolated, will be dispatched to the EU Reference Laboratory for Avian Flu based in Weybridge, the United Kingdom, in order to be recorded in the European Union's virus bank.


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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/29/content_7164181.htm

[Theresa42]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

The avian flu is back in Romania

The National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) confirmed yesterday a hotbed of avian flu in a household from Murighiol, Tulcea County. The Institute of Diagnosis and Animal Health established that its strain is of the type H5N1.

published in issue 4073 page 2 at 2007-11-29

The authorities are trying to isolate the virus, and afterwards they will send the strain to the Community Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza from Weybridge, Great Britain, in order to be registered in the virus bank of the European Union. ANSVSA has already notified the European Commission over the new outbreak in Romania. ?There was a suspicion of avian flu which was confirmed, at Murighiol, and all the necessary measures have been taken. All the poultry from the household were culled, and the surveillance and control measures will be intensified in all the farms from Romania,? declared Nicolae Lazar, director of the animal health division of ANSVSA. According to a press release of ANSVSA, 56 hens and 16 ducks from the respective household have been culled and destroyed, and the first disinfection was made.

In spite of the confirmation of the virus, the representatives of the Antiepizootic Commandment decided that Murighiol will not be quarantined if all the measures required by such a situation are taken. ?Murighiol will not be quarantined, but security and filters on the access ways will be set up,? declared Tulcea deputy prefect, Ioan Boieru. More exactly, disinfection filters were set up on the main road crossing Murighiol, the circulation of animals was restricted, and the trading and transport of poultry, chicken meat and eggs were prohibited.

The Antiepizootic Commandment from Tulcea established a protection area on a range of three km which includes Murighiol, and the surveillance area, on a range of 10 km, which includes the households from the localities Mahmudia, Dunavatul de Jos, Dunavatul de Sus, Plopu and Sarinasuf.

?In the area where the avian flu hotbed was discovered, the quarantine will last 21 days, as stipulated by law, and hopefully it will remain the only affected area. If it extends we shall take all the legal measures, those which were taken also in 2005. At the same time, the representative of the Agricultural Department will go to check in the Agricultural Register and in the households where the chicken were culled in order to make sure that the people receive the legal indemnifications. The amounts given as indemnifications are the duty of the Romanian state and of the Government of Romania,? the deputy prefect said.

Over 50 persons from Murighiol were vaccinated yesterday. The medics from Tulcea promised however that all the almost 1,500 persons from the locality would be vaccinated until today, and all the almost 3,500 inhabitants of the commune would be immunized against the human flu in the coming days.

http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=homenews&id=20071128-7834

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

Romania Reports Fresh Bird Flu Outbreak, Joining U.K., Germany

By Jason Gale

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Romania became the seventh country in Europe reporting fresh bird flu outbreaks this year, a month after a United Nations agency said the lethal H5N1 strain may be more prevalent in the region than previously thought.

The H5N1 virus killed 31 poultry on a farm in eastern Romania two days ago, the national veterinary and food safety authority in Bucharest said in a report yesterday to the World Organization for Animal Health. An additional 49 birds were destroyed to control the outbreak on the farm in Tulcea, near the border with Ukraine, the report said.

The source of infection can't yet be confirmed, Stefan Nicolae, the authority's director general, said in the report. The most recent of Romania's previous 162 avian influenza outbreaks ended in July 2006.

More than 300 million chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys in 60 countries have died from the virus or been killed to prevent its spread. The disease in birds creates opportunity for human infection and increases the risk of the virus changing into a deadly pandemic form that spreads easily between humans.

Avian flu has infected 335 people in a dozen countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East since 2003. Three of every five cases were fatal and most were caused by contact with infected poultry, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or plucking feathers, according to the World Health Organization.

The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia and the U.K. are the other European countries that have reported new outbreaks this year, according to the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.

Silent Spreaders

Discovery of the virus in healthy ducks and geese in Germany three months ago may be a sign that domestic animals are harboring the infection without getting sick, increasing the threat to human health, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said on Oct. 25.

The spread of the disease by birds that don't succumb to it has led to entrenched infection in nations including Indonesia, the country with the most human H5N1 cases, and is thwarting efforts to eradicate the virus, the FAO said. Europe's Black Sea area, where chicken and waterfowl populations are similar to those in Asia, may become a reservoir for H5N1 because birds migrating from Siberia spend the winter there, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=af7KisIy0YxA&refer=uk

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class="colored_in_333 boldWeight">Bird flu strain H5N1 virus found in Romania, Bulgaria takes measures</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD background=Images/bg_line3.gif></TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>29 November 2007 | 10:59 | FOCUS News Agency</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD background=Images/bg_line3.gif></TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>Sofia. The European Commission has published a decision for protective measures regarding the highly-pathogenic virus strain H5N1 found in domestic birds in Romania, the press office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced. The decision notes the zones, where movement of live birds and poultry products is banned. Trade with the whole region of Tulcea in Romania is banned by December 31st 2007.

http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n128283

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[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

Bulgaria Closes Fowl Markets after Romanian Bird Flu

Updated on: 29.11.2007, 13:33
Published on: 29.11.2007, 13:26

? </SPAN>


Author: international.news.bg
<SCRIPT src="http://ibox.bg/js/CookieManager.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ibox.bg/js/material_utils.js"></SCRIPT>Font size: a a a

See also:

• Bird Flu Contained in Bulgaria
• Bulgaria Clamps Down in Bird Flu
• Bulgaria Braces for New Bird Flu Outbreak

<!-- relatedmaterials -->
Bulgaria banned the sale of live birds at open markets at its Danube River regions on Wednesday, November 28, Reuters informed, cited by nab.ch. The measure was taken as a precaution after the highly virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu that was confirmed in Romania.
Bulgaria's Agriculture Ministry closed the live fowl markets at 7 municipalities along the border with Romania (Danube River) and ordered to the veterinarians to make daily checks on wild birds all around Bulgaria.
Romania discovered an outbreak of the virus in a small farm at the Danube on Wednesday.
Bulgaria and Romania, lie on the Pontic migratory route used by the wild birds to travel from Scandinavia and Siberia to Northern Africa for the winter.

http://international.ibox.bg/news/id_1048136277

[HenryN]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

<TABLE class=lan18 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=hei22 vAlign=bottom height=25>Romania says Bird flu brought in by migratory birds
</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff height=4></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="50%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="48%">www.chinaview.cn 2007-11-30 04:37:53</TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="26%"> </TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="12%"> Print</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="80%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=20></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=lt14 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=lt14>



BUCHAREST, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Pultry in Romanian eastern county Tulcea was contaminated with the bird flu virus from migratory birds, the National Sanitary Veterinary and Animal Safety Authority announced on Thursday.
Fodder for the poultry bred in the contaminated household came from a region intensely sought by wild birds, according to the preliminary epidemiological investigation.
At a meeting held on Thursday, the Tulcea County Anti-epizootic Command decided to have the local Hunters and Fishermen Association organize test hunts of wild birds and collect the bodies for specific lab tests.
According to data presented in the report of the Danube Delta Biosphere Natural Reserve, 6,800 wild birds were tracked here on Wednesday.
The Romanian Institute for Animal Diagnosis and Health confirmed on Wednesday the bird flu outbreak, the H5N1 virus strain, after a laboratory testing of samples taken from dead chickens in a household at Murighiol of Tulcea County.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/30/content_7171339.htm

[Anne]

Re: Romania detects H5N1 birdflu virus in Danube farm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071130/hl_afp/romaniahealthflu_071130173137;_ylt=A9G_RqZGS1BHrgsAowGTvyIi

BUCHAREST (AFP) - Samples from a farm in south-eastern Romania have revealed no new cases of bird flu, but tests were to determine if a cat found dead at the farm was infected, veterinary health officials said Friday.

Some 200 samples taken Thursday, a day after bird flu was found at the farm in Murighiol, tested negative for the potentially deadly H5N1 virus, the head of the National Veterinary Health Agency ANSV Radu Roatis said.
But tests were still being conducted on a cat found dead at the farm to determine whether the animal died of bird flu, said Ioan Lazar, also from ANSV.
In the meantime, health safety measures around the farm will be maintained, Roatis said.
Veterinary health authorities will continue to monitor poultry in the vicinity of the farm and test migratory birds, which could be the source of the virus, he added.
The Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health confirmed Wednesday that the H5N1 virus had been found at the small farm in Murighiol and all its poultry was immediately culled.
Romania has been among the European countries worst hit by bird flu, with some 55 outbreaks of the disease in 2005 and another 150 in May 2006 in breeding farms in the centre of the country.
Last year, some 1.1 million birds were slaughtered to contain the virus.