Suspected bird flu cases in Romania
07/10/2005 - 18:04:29Officials today restricted access to a village in eastern Romania after three ducks were found dead in the Danube delta and were being tested for bird flu, the agriculture minister said.
Authorities restricted movement in and out of the village of Ciamurlia and banned the transport of animals from the area, Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said.
Tests were being conducted in Britain and in the capital on samples from the dead birds to determine whether they were infected with bird flu – and if so, which strain.
Authorities worldwide are on alert for confirmed cases of fowl infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu circulating in parts of Asia.
More than 60 people in Asia have died after contracting bird flu – a handful probably catching it from other humans.
The virus does not easily move from person to person, but scientists worry that H5N1 may mutate into a form that passes easily between people, sparking a pandemic of human flu.
No cases of H5N1 have been confirmed in Europe, in birds or people.
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