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Minister calls for calm as bird flu spreads in Romania
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/120133.asp
Minister calls for calm as bird flu spreads in Romania
Wednesday ? May 24, 2006
Romania's agriculture minister urged Bucharest residents not to panic after the bird flu virus surfaced in 44 locations, including two in the capital, since reappearing here 10 days ago.
Possible contamination in around 30 other locations, including one in Bucharest, has been identified over the last 24 hours.
Before this wave of new cases, bird flu had been confirmed in over 60 villages in Romania since October.
Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur told residents in the capital "not to give in to panic," and called on district mayors to "deal with this crisis responsibly".
A quarantine in the capital's southern fourth district, one of the 44 sites affected, was reduced Tuesday, following criticism by Bucharest general administrator Mioara Mantale.
"We decided to isolate only five streets, or less than 500 people, so as not to distress the population," said Adrian Inimaroiu, the district's mayor.
"In the end, we only killed 230 birds in high-risk streets," he said.
Late Monday, Inimaroiu had said that around 13,000 residents would be placed under quarantine for 21 days and 2,500 birds culled, which led Mantale to accuse him on television of being irresponsible.
"There is no logical reason for putting 13,000 people under quarantine when only two farm yards have been contaminated," Mantale said, adding for Inimaroiu's benefit: "if you had been a civil servant and not elected, you would have been fired".
On Tuesday afternoon, a quarantine in the northern part of the capital affecting over 1,000 people since early Monday was also lifted.
Romanian authorities were still unable to explain how the virus had reached Bucharest.
The intelligence service (SRI) claimed contaminated birds imported from Hungary and Slovakia were the source of this latest spread of the disease but Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said there was no evidence to support this.
"An investigation has been launched by the National Veterinary Health Agency, which should determine the source of the virus. The SRI did its job but we must allow specialists to establish the causes of this disease," Tariceanu said.
The highly virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu can be transmitted to humans and is potentially fatal. So far no humans have been infected in Romania. ? AFP
Minister calls for calm as bird flu spreads in Romania
Wednesday ? May 24, 2006
Romania's agriculture minister urged Bucharest residents not to panic after the bird flu virus surfaced in 44 locations, including two in the capital, since reappearing here 10 days ago.
Possible contamination in around 30 other locations, including one in Bucharest, has been identified over the last 24 hours.
Before this wave of new cases, bird flu had been confirmed in over 60 villages in Romania since October.
Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur told residents in the capital "not to give in to panic," and called on district mayors to "deal with this crisis responsibly".
A quarantine in the capital's southern fourth district, one of the 44 sites affected, was reduced Tuesday, following criticism by Bucharest general administrator Mioara Mantale.
"We decided to isolate only five streets, or less than 500 people, so as not to distress the population," said Adrian Inimaroiu, the district's mayor.
"In the end, we only killed 230 birds in high-risk streets," he said.
Late Monday, Inimaroiu had said that around 13,000 residents would be placed under quarantine for 21 days and 2,500 birds culled, which led Mantale to accuse him on television of being irresponsible.
"There is no logical reason for putting 13,000 people under quarantine when only two farm yards have been contaminated," Mantale said, adding for Inimaroiu's benefit: "if you had been a civil servant and not elected, you would have been fired".
On Tuesday afternoon, a quarantine in the northern part of the capital affecting over 1,000 people since early Monday was also lifted.
Romanian authorities were still unable to explain how the virus had reached Bucharest.
The intelligence service (SRI) claimed contaminated birds imported from Hungary and Slovakia were the source of this latest spread of the disease but Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said there was no evidence to support this.
"An investigation has been launched by the National Veterinary Health Agency, which should determine the source of the virus. The SRI did its job but we must allow specialists to establish the causes of this disease," Tariceanu said.
The highly virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu can be transmitted to humans and is potentially fatal. So far no humans have been infected in Romania. ? AFP
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