Re: Romania - Bird flu virus detected in Romania, again
Romania to cull one million birds after bird flu outbreak
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="6" width="520"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="4" width="240"> <tbody><tr> <td class="gbodytext">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td class="date" valign="top"> <!--First created : 15 May 2006 0159 hrs 1759 hrs (GMT)-->
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 15 May 2006 0159 hrs
<!--Last modified :15 May 2006 0159 hrs (SST) 1759 hrs (GMT)-->
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="rheader" valign="top">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellspacing="2" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="rbodytext" valign="top" width="12">
</td> <td class="bbodytext" valign="top" width="430">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="rbodytext" colspan="2" valign="top">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> BUCHAREST : Some one million domestic fowl are to be culled in Romania after the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was found in three locations in the centre of the country, Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said on Sunday.
"Almost one million birds will be culled in total in central Romanian
regions that have been hit or could be hit by bird flu," Flutur said during a press conference.
"The discovery of bird flu in a farm is a first in Romania, since the first case of the disease was detected on October 7, 2005. We will quickly cull the farm's approximately 350,000 chicken, as well as other poultry in contaminated centres," he said.
According to an investigation by the anti-epizootic committee, a farm in Codlea already
delivered poultry "illegally" to three counties in central and eastern Romania.
On Sunday evening, veterinary health authorities said they had seized almost three tonnes of chicken that could be infected by the bird flu virus in a supermarket in the eastern town of Galati.
The poultry meat was apparently delivered to the supermarket by the Codlea farm , according to the head of the Galati veterinary health bureau, Viorel Gheorghita, quoted by the news agency Mediafax.
After they had announced in late April that the H5N1 virus, which can be deadly to humans, had been eradicated in their country, Romanian authorities found new cases in the central town of Hurezu Friday.
On Sunday, the National Veterinary Health Agency (ANSVSA) said it had found the H5N1 virus in Fagaras, in the centre of the country, as well as in a poultry farm in Codlea.
According to ANSVSA president Ion Agafitei,
this farm was "responsible" for spreading the virus, after it sold contaminated chickens to several farmers in Fagaras and Hurezu.
"Transporting poultry has been banned in the whole country and disinfection filters have been put in place in the affected regions," Flutur said.
Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu also said the drug Tamiflu had been given out to residents in the affected regions, to prevent a possible human case of bird flu.
In total, cases of bird flu have been found in 56 locations in Romania and over 420,000 birds have been culled since the virus was found in poultry on October 7, 2005, in the Danube delta region, in the south-east of the country.
No human case of bird flu has been found in Romania to date. - AFP/de
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/208331/1/.html