Romania reports 26th village hit by bird flu

[Goju]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/10/content_4163120.htm

Romania confirms H5 bird flu virus in poultry

BUCHAREST, Feb. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Romania has confirmed the H5 bird flu virus in three dead hens found in a village in the south close to the border with Bulgaria, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

The village of Cetate in Dolj County was quarantined and all the poultry will be culled, the ministry said in a statement.

The new cases of bird flu were first detected on Tuesday, according to Dolj County's health authorities. Samples will be sent a British laboratory to determine whether the virus is of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain which can infect human beings.

Since the first outbreak of bird flu occurred on Oct. 7, 2005, avian flu has been discovered in 27 villages across Romania. No human case has been reported in the country so far.

Neighboring Bulgaria has also sent samples to Britain for tests after discovering H5 bird flu in a dying swan last week. Two more dead swans have been tested positive for the H5 bird flu virus in Bulgaria this week. Enditem

[Theresa42]

Romania reports 26th village hit by bird flu

Romania reports 26th village hit by bird flu
(AFX UK Focus) 2006-02-10 17:39 GMT

BUCHAREST (AFX) - Authorities in Romania have found the potentially lethal strain of the bird flu virus in Cetate in the south of the country, the 26th village to be hit by the disease.

More than 1,200 poultry in Cetate were slaughtered as a preventive measure and the village was quarantined as the slaughter continued, the national institute for animal health said.

The virus detected was the H5N1 strain, which can be lethal for humans, and has claimed about 90 lives since 2003, mostly in Asia.

Romania has slaughtered more than 120,000 poultry since the first bird flu case was detected last October. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/lam

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxn...action=article

[Mellie]

Romania finds bird flu in fowl near Black Sea port

Romania finds bird flu in fowl near Black Sea port
14 Feb 2006 17:29:01 GMT

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14760207.htm

Source: Reuters

BUCHAREST, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Romania confirmed on Tuesday a strain of avian flu had infected poultry found dead on Monday in a village near the Black Sea port of Constanta and detected new suspect cases on a farm close to the Bulgarian border.

Bird flu has been discovered in 31 villages across the country since the virus was first detected in October in the Danube delta, Europe's largest wetlands and a major migratory route for wild birds. Romania has not reported any human cases.

"Tests made on samples from two dead hens found in the village of Topraisar confirm the presence of bird flu," head of the Animal Health and Diagnosis Institute Nicolae Stefan told Reuters.

"We will take regular measures to quarantine the village and cull all domestic birds there," Stefan said.

He said the samples would be sent to a British laboratory in Weybridge to find out whether the strain was the deadly H5N1. Romania is not able to test for H5N1.

The village of Topraisar lies 20 km (12 miles) south-west of Romania's largest port of Constanta.

Authorities also said suspicious poultry deaths were recorded in the village of Vlahi, in Constanta county, 25 km north of the border with Bulgaria, which has reported its first avian flu cases over the past few days.

"Preliminary tests made on several hens from a small farmyard in the village of Vlahi showed suspicion for the bird flu virus," Stefan said.

He said all poultry in the farmyard were killed and that around 2,500 domestic birds in the village would be culled if further tests confirm the virus.

H5N1 has killed at least 88 people and caused the death of millions of birds since 2003.