Bird flu virus 'contained in Danube delta'

Tests on 2,000 birds collected in recent days across Romania show the bird flu virus has been limited to the Danube Delta, the Romanian Agriculture Minister said today.

“It’s good that we don’t have signs of outbreaks toward the western part of the country,” said Gheorghe Flutur.

He said authorities found 22 more dead wild birds on three lakes in the delta, which specialists are testing to see if they carried the virus.

Several sick swans and a wild duck had also been discovered yesterday with antibodies near the border with Ukraine and in the villages of Ceamurlia de Jos and Maliuc.

Authorities have killed all domestic birds in those villages and finished disinfecting the areas, including people’s houses and yards.

Officials confirmed on Saturday that the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain had been detected in Ceamurlia de Jos, as well as in Turkey and Russia.

Tests were being carried out in Britain are expected to confirm that birds in Maliuc had been infected with the same strain, after Romanian specialists identified the virus as belonging to the H5 subtype.