ROMANIA: EU on Alert After Bird Flu Flies In

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Marian Chiriac

BUCHAREST, Oct 13 2005 (IPS) - The European Commission says a strain of bird flu has been detected in Romania, confirming that the virus is now at EU gates.

The Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), said in a press release Thursday that the avian influenza virus H5 has been detected in test samples from a chicken and a duck in a suspected backyard farm in the Danube delta.

The Commission said further testing will be needed to check whether the virus is present in its more serious form, H5N1.

Several European states, including Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Switzerland and Poland decided early this week to suspend import of poultry meat from Romania following media reports that bird flu has broken out in the Balkans country.

All western European health authorities are on alert, and have started taking emergency measures to stop bird flu entering their countries. There are fears the virus will mutate into a form transmissible to humans, and lead to a pandemic.

Romanian authorities have started a campaign to kill all fowl in areas where outbreaks are considered possible. Some 4,000 persons in the affected area near the Danube delta have been given anti-flu vaccine. The entire region has been placed under quarantine.

Authorities say up to 125,000 people across Romania will be vaccinated over the coming days.

The Danube delta contains Europe’s largest wetlands, and is a major migratory area for wild birds. Experts say that of the 320 species of migrating birds that go through Romania, 15 could be carriers of the bird flu virus.

The birds most likely to bring the virus are wild geese and ducks from Russia and Kazakhstan.

So far about 3,000 birds have been killed as a precaution, and about 40,000 domestic birds are due to be killed. Several animal fairs, meat processing centres and slaughterhouses have been closed down.

A team of three EU experts arrived in Bucharest earlier this week to test for avian influenza.

Anti-flu vaccines have been being administered to thousands of people in capital Bucharest amid fears that the avian flu detected in Romania may be the deadly strain that has killed more than 60 people in southeast Asia.

“I know that Romania does not have a specific vaccine for avian flu but hope this anti-flu vaccine will help me to enhance immunity,” a woman waiting for vaccination told IPS.

Meat producers fear exports may be halted completely. “We hope the import ban some European countries implemented is temporary,” said Ilie Van, head of the Union of Bird Breeders.

Romania exports some 4,000 tonnes of meat a year, mostly to Germany, France, Britain and Switzerland. “It’s bad for our business but I think it’s better to take these preventive measures now,” Van added.

The EU has already extended a ban on Turkish live birds and poultry products until next April after the disease was identified at a farm near the Aegean and Marmara seas.