Romania kills poultry as Europe braces for bird flu
Staff and agencies
16 October, 2005
http://www.leadingthecharge.com/stories/news-0086414.html
By Antonia Oprita 36 minutes ago
BUCHAREST - Romanian authorities slaughtered more domestic fowl on Sunday after the deadly strain of bird flu was detected in the Danube delta, as officials elsewhere in Europe prepared for a possible pandemic.
British laboratory tests confirmed on Saturday that the H5N1 strain of the disease had reached mainland Europe for the first time, after it was identified in three ducks found dead in the Romanian Danube delta village of Ceamurlia de Jos.
Experts fear the H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 60 people and caused the death of millions of birds in Asia since 2003, could mutate and spread easily among humans, creating a pandemic that might kill tens of millions.
Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said the outbreak was limited to Ceamurlia and Maliuc, 40 km (25 miles) north. All 18,000 domestic birds in Ceamurlia were killed and culling of Maliuc‘s less than 3,000 poultry was under way.
"On a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius around Ceamurlia de Jos, the tests (for bird flu) are negative," Flutur told reporters.
The Danube delta, Europe‘s largest wetlands near the Black Sea, is a major way station for migratory wild birds coming from Russia, Scandinavia, Poland and Germany and heading for warmer North Africa, including the Nile delta, for winter.
Despite the Romanian assurances, Britain‘s chief medical officer said on Sunday his country was braced for a pandemic of bird flu that could result in at least 50,000 deaths there.
The official, Liam Donaldson, echoed previous warnings by saying history suggested the bird flu virus could combine with a human flu virus and become easily transmissible.
"Once in a while, every 10 to 40 years, the flu virus mutates into a strain which we haven‘t got natural immunity to," he told BBC TV. He said a normal winter flu kills more than 12,000 people in Britain.
"If we had a (bird flu) pandemic the problem would be the existing vaccines don‘t work, we would need a new vaccine and people don‘t have natural immunity," said Donaldson.
"So the estimate we are working toward is around 50,000 excess deaths from flu, but it could be a lot higher than that -- it depends on whether the strain is mild or serious."
No human cases of bird flu have so far been reported from either Romania or Turkey, where H5N1 was also identified in birds last week.
A Turkish Health Ministry official said on Saturday that nine people under observation in hospital for possible bird flu had been allowed to go home as tests showed they were not infected.
Six counties in southeastern Romania have been cordoned off and vehicles leaving the area are being disinfected at checkpoints. Poultry and pigs have been put indoors, transport of live animals from the counties forbidden and fairs selling animals closed across the country, officials said.
"We acted in accordance with European Union decisions," said Gabriel Predoi of the country‘s veterinary authority.
The European Commission asked governments on Friday to pinpoint areas most at risk and to keep poultry separate from wild birds, which carry the virus. EU veterinary experts will meet on Thursday to review the situation.
Romanian media said up to two million vaccine doses for regular flu had been sold in the past few days, even though it protects people only against the latest strain of human flu.
"We exhausted all the flu vaccines in stock," said Margareta Dumitrescu, a pharmacist in downtown Bucharest.
Bulgaria, sandwiched between Romania and Turkey, said it would set up a bird flu crisis headquarters on Monday.
Bulgaria has stepped up border controls and increased surveillance over poultry farms along the Danube and Black Sea, chief veterinarian Zheko Baichev told Reuters.
"We have made 500 blood tests on farm birds and checked on 154 domestic and 100 wild birds found dead throughout the country. We have not isolated the bird flu virus," he said.
Two EU bird flu experts will arrive in Bulgaria on Monday to help with preventive measures, Baichev said.
The H5N1 strain first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, causing the death or destruction of 1.5 million birds and sickening 18 people, killing six.
It re-emerged in 2003 in South Korea , and has now spread to China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Turkey and Romania.
(Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia)
Staff and agencies
16 October, 2005
http://www.leadingthecharge.com/stories/news-0086414.html
By Antonia Oprita 36 minutes ago
BUCHAREST - Romanian authorities slaughtered more domestic fowl on Sunday after the deadly strain of bird flu was detected in the Danube delta, as officials elsewhere in Europe prepared for a possible pandemic.
British laboratory tests confirmed on Saturday that the H5N1 strain of the disease had reached mainland Europe for the first time, after it was identified in three ducks found dead in the Romanian Danube delta village of Ceamurlia de Jos.
Experts fear the H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 60 people and caused the death of millions of birds in Asia since 2003, could mutate and spread easily among humans, creating a pandemic that might kill tens of millions.
Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said the outbreak was limited to Ceamurlia and Maliuc, 40 km (25 miles) north. All 18,000 domestic birds in Ceamurlia were killed and culling of Maliuc‘s less than 3,000 poultry was under way.
"On a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius around Ceamurlia de Jos, the tests (for bird flu) are negative," Flutur told reporters.
The Danube delta, Europe‘s largest wetlands near the Black Sea, is a major way station for migratory wild birds coming from Russia, Scandinavia, Poland and Germany and heading for warmer North Africa, including the Nile delta, for winter.
Despite the Romanian assurances, Britain‘s chief medical officer said on Sunday his country was braced for a pandemic of bird flu that could result in at least 50,000 deaths there.
The official, Liam Donaldson, echoed previous warnings by saying history suggested the bird flu virus could combine with a human flu virus and become easily transmissible.
"Once in a while, every 10 to 40 years, the flu virus mutates into a strain which we haven‘t got natural immunity to," he told BBC TV. He said a normal winter flu kills more than 12,000 people in Britain.
"If we had a (bird flu) pandemic the problem would be the existing vaccines don‘t work, we would need a new vaccine and people don‘t have natural immunity," said Donaldson.
"So the estimate we are working toward is around 50,000 excess deaths from flu, but it could be a lot higher than that -- it depends on whether the strain is mild or serious."
No human cases of bird flu have so far been reported from either Romania or Turkey, where H5N1 was also identified in birds last week.
A Turkish Health Ministry official said on Saturday that nine people under observation in hospital for possible bird flu had been allowed to go home as tests showed they were not infected.
Six counties in southeastern Romania have been cordoned off and vehicles leaving the area are being disinfected at checkpoints. Poultry and pigs have been put indoors, transport of live animals from the counties forbidden and fairs selling animals closed across the country, officials said.
"We acted in accordance with European Union decisions," said Gabriel Predoi of the country‘s veterinary authority.
The European Commission asked governments on Friday to pinpoint areas most at risk and to keep poultry separate from wild birds, which carry the virus. EU veterinary experts will meet on Thursday to review the situation.
Romanian media said up to two million vaccine doses for regular flu had been sold in the past few days, even though it protects people only against the latest strain of human flu.
"We exhausted all the flu vaccines in stock," said Margareta Dumitrescu, a pharmacist in downtown Bucharest.
Bulgaria, sandwiched between Romania and Turkey, said it would set up a bird flu crisis headquarters on Monday.
Bulgaria has stepped up border controls and increased surveillance over poultry farms along the Danube and Black Sea, chief veterinarian Zheko Baichev told Reuters.
"We have made 500 blood tests on farm birds and checked on 154 domestic and 100 wild birds found dead throughout the country. We have not isolated the bird flu virus," he said.
Two EU bird flu experts will arrive in Bulgaria on Monday to help with preventive measures, Baichev said.
The H5N1 strain first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, causing the death or destruction of 1.5 million birds and sickening 18 people, killing six.
It re-emerged in 2003 in South Korea , and has now spread to China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Turkey and Romania.
(Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia)