Hungary has banned the import of poultry meat, livestock and all related products from neighbouring Romania because of fears of bird flu, chief veterinarian Miklos Suth told the state news agency MTI on Sunday, according to Reuters. Romania culled hundreds of birds and quarantined villages to try to halt the spread of bird flu after it was detected in poultry in its Danube delta. Hungary's ban comes after several other European Union countries, including Austria and Poland, implemented similar bans, MTI said. Turkish and Romanian authorities culled thousands of birds and imposed quarantine zones on Sunday to try to stop the spread of avian disease. Romania's suspected outbreak was detected in poultry in the Danube delta on the Black Sea. The European Commission says the Romanian and Turkish cases are different but they have raised the spectre of the disease reaching European Union countries. If the Romanian cases did turn out to be the deadly H5N1 virus, they would be the first evidence the strain has spread to Europe from Asia, where it has killed more than 60 people and millions of birds since 2003. Hungary's health authorities have called for an emergency meeting for Monday to stop bird flu.
