flu hits europe/latest news

Europe on bird flu alert
From: From correspondents in London and and Bucharest
October 10, 2005

THE most deadly strain of avian flu is feared to have spread to Europe for the first time, infecting birds in Turkey and Romania on the weekend.

Tests will be carried out in Britain this week to see whether confirmed cases of bird flu are of the deadliest H5N1 strain, which has killed 65 people and millions of birds in Southeast Asia and has spread to Kazakhstan and Russia.
Officials from Britain's Department of Health are closely monitoring the situation amid fears that the killer strain is spreading west.

Romania's health ministry administered anti-flu vaccines to more than 700 people and sent 100,000 extra vaccines to the affected region and neighbouring areas.

Experts fear the H5N1 virus could mutate into one that spreads easily among humans, creating a pandemic that may kill millions.

The so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed between 20 million and 40 million people worldwide.


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Turkish officials reported on Saturday that 1800 birds had died of avian flu at a farm in the province of Balikesir, western Turkey, a few kilometres from a nature reserve that attracts migrating birds.
CNN Turk television quoted Turkish Farm Minister Mehdi Eker as saying: "Everything is under control, every precautionary measure has been taken to prevent it spreading."

CNN Turk quoted the provincial deputy governor, Halil Yavuz Kaya, as saying the turkeys could have contracted the disease from migratory birds at the nearby park.

Romanian authorities announced that three birds had died from avian flu in a village in Tulcea, in the Danube delta marshlands.

"A quarantine has been placed on all localities in Tulcea, and birds have been sacrificed," said Ion Agafitei, head of the national health and veterinary association.

The delta contains Europe's largest wetlands and is a winter migratory area for birds flying from Russia, Scandinavia, Poland and Germany to Africa.

Mr Agafitei said the three birds had died in the village of Smardan after the first cases emerged in another delta village on Friday.

Quarantines were imposed on the two affected villages and five others that had suspicious bird deaths in recent days. No livestock is to be taken from the delta to market.

In Ceamurlia de Jos, a few kilometres from the Black Sea, men with white masks poisoned dozens of birds with carbon dioxide before burning them.

"Nobody dares to eat poultry here after what happened," said Mihai Carciumaru, the mayor of the village.

"I attended a wedding today and I asked doctors to check whether the guests had poultry on their menu. But it's not the case, they've all decided to eat pork."

Romanian television showed peasants from the village saying large numbers of poultry had died in recent days.

"Mysteriously, my birds die one after another. I've lost 45 geese and authorities will kill the rest, leaving me with nothing," an angry villager told private station Antena 3.

Bulgaria, which is seen as a potential next destination for the bird flu outbreak, said it had not yet registered any cases. Veterinary officials said they would travel to the Danube river border region to monitor the implementation of safety rules.

The H5N1 strain has killed 65 people and millions of birds in Asia since 2003 and has been officially registered in six Russian regions in Siberia and the Urals, and has also been confirmed in Kazakhstan.

The Sunday Times, AFP, Reuters



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Related links
Background: Avian influenza