Deadly strain seen in new Romania bird flu cases
The Star, 5 Dec 2005

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania will send samples from new cases of bird flu detected in the south-east of the country for testing in Britain next week, but officials said on Sunday the birds had most likely contracted the deadly H5N1 strain. 

Late on Saturday the H5 strain of the virus was found in poultry in the village of Ciocile outside the Danube delta, where the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain was first discovered in October, and culling of over 8,000 birds started. 

"We are almost sure it's the N1 subtype, taking into account what we've seen so far in Romania," Gabriel Predoi, a top official from the national Animal Health Agency, told Reuters. 

Predoi said officials will send the Ciocile samples to a laboratory in Britain next week to be absolutely sure it was the deadly strain. 

TV images showed pictures of masked      men    in   white     overalls

catching and culling hens, ducks and geese in Ciocile, which was quarantined, while local people watched, some with tears in their eyes. 

Disinfection filters were installed on all roads leading out of the county of Braila, home to Ciocile and three other villages where the virus was detected over the past week. 

Officials said all the outbreaks occurred in villages close to lakes where migratory birds often rest. They repeated recommendations that people keep their flock isolated so they do not come into contact with wild birds. 

Veterinary inspectors stepped up testing and controls to ensure that villagers abide by the recommendations in the area affected and in neighbouring counties. 

In October, the Balkan state became the first country in mainland Europe to detect the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry in two villages in the Danube delta, Europe's largest wetlands near the Black Sea. 

The first bird flu case outside the delta occurred on Nov. 26 in the village of Scarlatesti, close to Ciocile and about 110 km from the delta. 

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and led to the slaughter of millions of domestic birds. Scientists fear the virus might mutate into a form that could be easily transmitted between humans. 

Romania has not reported any cases of bird flu in humans so far.