Villages under quarantine
NST, 25 May 2006

BUCHAREST: Authorities here have quarantined dozens of communities and culled domestic fowl to contain a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday.

Romania detected its first outbreak of the virus since October in dozens of small villages, and has since culled more than a million domestic birds.

However, the new outbreak, which began last week in an industrial chicken farm in Codlea, sparked widespread criticism that veterinary rules were not properly enforced.

The virus has been confirmed in 44 locations, most near Codlea, the ministry said.

An H5 subtype of the virus was also detected in chickens being raised in households at the edge of Bucharest, the ministry said.

On Tuesday, Romania’s intelligence agency published a report which said the outbreak could have stemmed from imported chickens and turkeys from Hungary and Slovakia. --- AP.