Romania confirms H5N1 virus in Danube delta poultry
The Star, 22 Nov 2005

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's agriculture ministry said on Monday that laboratory tests in Britain had confirmed the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry found dead last week in a Danube delta village. 

"Regarding the samples in Caraorman, the laboratory in London confirmed it was the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus," the ministry said on its website. 

Romania said on Nov. 14 that four new cases of avian flu in domestic birds had been discovered in Caraorman. It said the village, which has no road access, would be quarantined and 2,000 domestic birds would be slaughtered. 

The Balkan state last month 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 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.