Romania Confirms Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu Virus - EC

The Commission said it will adopt a decision confirming the risks areas set up by the Romanian authorities following the outbreak. The Commission said the H5N1 outbreak was located at the Danube Delta, close to Romania's border with Ukraine.

According to the press release, Romania's national laboratory confirmed Monday the outbreak of H5N1 avian flu and the country's authorities immediately applied the necessary control measures stipulated in the EU legislation.

The measures imply killing all the infected birds in the farm and establishing a protection area and a monitoring area surrounding the infected farm.

According to the EC, the ten-kilometer zone around the outbreak is considered to be a "high risk area" and is surrounded by a larger "low risk area" for which also certain restrictions on movements and additional bio-safety measures for poultry farms apply.

This is the first detection of the highly avian influenza H5N1 in the EU in a year and the last case, confirmed in March 2009, concerned a wild duck in Germany, according to the press release.

Romania closed its last bird flu outbreak and lifted safety restrictions in December 2007. Thousands of birds were culled countrywide in 2006 and 2007.

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