Bird Flu Detected In Rumania

Reuters reports Romania detected the first European case of avian flu. Rumanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said:

"We discovered today three cases of domestic birds which were tested positive for the avian flu in the village of Ceamurlia de Jos in the Danube delta," Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur told reporters.

[. . .]

The Romanian minister said he had imposed quarantine for three kilometres (two miles) around the site and all domestic birds would be culled to prevent the disease from spreading in the environmentally sensitive delta.

Flutur also said hunting was banned across the delta and that health authorities had dispatched medical teams to start testing for possible human cases in the area, just a few km from the Black Sea.

Testing will be done in Great Britain to determine whether the flu was the deadly H5N1 strain.

The Independent reports that strict measures have been in place to control the outbreak:

Officials have killed nearly all the domestic fowl in Ceamurlia killed and banned hunting in the Danube delta. The movement of people in and out of the village has been restricted and the transport of animals banned. Medical teams were going to administer flu vaccines for residents.

According to Newsweek, H5N1 has infected 116 people in Asia, killing 60 — but experts are more worried the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people. That could trigger a human flu pandemic.

As the bird flu reached Europe, officials from 80 countries and the UN met to try to plan a global approach to any pandemic. According to the BBC, the U.S. is using the conference in part to stress the need for all countries, including those with less than transparent track records, to share information at the earliest possible stage.

President Bush has urged manufacturers of bird flu vaccine to increase production.
Last week, the Senate approved $4 billion for the purchase of anti-flu drugs.

It is encouraging that officials are taking the threat of a pandemic seriously.

Comments

[e.a.greenhalgh]

if you think the government or pharma are taking bird flu seriously see www.cancerfraudbadbiotech.com and see Aug 2005 revised section, scroll down to Red Zone and read the comments and then see letters and replies to Pfizer, Merck and Bill Gates. You may be shocked. thank you. E.A.greenhalgh