Thu Jan 5, 2005
AFP - Romania vigilant after bird flu deaths in Turkey
Romania will reinforce measures to protect against bird flu after two teenagers in Turkey succumbed to the deadly disease this week, the minister of agriculture said.
The deaths were the first attributed to the H5N1 strain of bird flu outside of southeast Asia and China , where it has killed more than 70 people since late 2003, nearly 40 of them in 2005 alone.
"We have asked for additional information from the Turkish embassy in Romania and from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to learn more about the cause and circumstances of these deaths," the minister, Gheorghe Flutur , said on Realitatea Television.
"We cannot say that Romania is out of danger, because bird flu cases detected so far have appeared in private (poultry) farms," as in Turkey, he said on Thursday.
Health authorities will vaccinate against the flu in three additional administrative departments in southern Romania , Dolj , Olt and Mehedinti , the minister said.
Twenty-two avian cases of bird flu have been detected in Romania in five southeastern departments: Tulcea , Braila , Buzau , Ialomita and Calarasi . More than 100,000 birds have been destroyed since the first case was discovered on October 7.
Several hundred thousand people have also been vaccinated against seasonal flu.