EU to propose 'drastic measures' against bird flu

The European Union will not hesitate to propose “drastic measures” to fight the spread of bird flu if current safeguards prove insufficient, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said yesterday.

Bird flu has been found in Romania and Turkey, and the EU has banned all poultry imports from those countries. It also recommended that member states increase biosecurity measures on farms, and implement early detection systems in risk areas, such as wetlands.

“We should avoid alarmism, but at the same time I think we should ... use very serious precaution on this situation and monitor it constantly,” Barroso told reporters during a visit to Stockholm, Sweden.

“We will not hesitate ... to propose more drastic measures if at technical and expert level this is recommended,” Barroso said, but did not give details.

EU experts on Friday urged poultry farmers to check on their birds more frequently and to report deaths and illnesses quickly. They did not require EU farmers to bring their flocks indoors, nor did they recommend vaccinations among flocks or bans on the hunting of wild fowl.

The Commission has called another emergency meeting of EU veterinary experts for Thursday to assess developments.

Although the H5N1 virus strain is highly contagious among birds, it is difficult for humans to contract. Still, it has killed about 60 people in Asia, mostly poultry farmers infected directly by birds.

The strain has already appeared in Turkey, and the European Union has banned all poultry imports from Turkey and Romania. The EU’s top public health official, Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, said no further measures to prevent the disease spreading from Romania and Turkey were immediately needed.

Turkish authorities said today that the outbreak in the western village of Kiziksa had been contained, while initial lab tests conducted after about 1,000 chickens died in eastern Turkey showed no signs of bird flu.

Romanian officials said all domestic birds in Ceamurlia de Jos were killed and the village was being disinfected, but the area would remain under quarantine for 21 days before it could be declared free of the virus.

“We finished (killing domestic fowl) in Ceamurlia de Jos,” said Gabriel Predoi, who heads the national Agency for Animal Health. They hoped to complete the cull in Maliuc by tonight.

Both Ceamurlia de Jos and Maliuc are in the quarantined eastern province of Dobrogea. All cars, trucks and trains travelling between Dobrogea and the rest of the country are being disinfected, while authorities have increased the surveillance of domestic birds in neighbouring areas, Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said.

The two villages are under even stricter regulations, with police restricting access to them. Authorities have also banned farmers in surrounding areas from leaving birds and animals outside, for fear they could come in contact with wild migratory birds carrying the virus.

In Italy, poultry for sale as of Monday will carry labels indicating its origin, in a bid to reassure consumers worried about bird flu.

An Italian lobby for the farm industry, Confagricoltura, said the labels would indicate where the poultry had come from, as well as a number indicating the poultry farm had clearance from health authorities.

The label will also contain information about the butchering of the poultry.