The European Commission on Thursday said it was slapping a six month ban on imports of poultry meat and other poultry products as well as live birds from Romania following overnight evidence of an outbreak of avian flu in a backyard farm in the Danube delta, DPA reported. Markos Kyprianou, the European Union's commissioner for health and consumer affairs, said he had also received confirmation that the case of bird flu in Turkey was of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain which is a threat to humans. Kyprianou said further tests were needed to find out if the virus discovered in Romania was the same as the one in Turkey. Romanian samples are being analysed to determine whether the virus identified in a duck and a chicken from a backyard farm was of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, which can also be transmitted to humans. Results are expected to be made available on Friday. The E.U. health chief said the virus in Turkey was very similar to the one discovered in Russia, China and Mongolia, leading to the assumption that it was being carried and transmitted by migratory birds. As a result, farmers were being advised to separate farm birds from wild birds, he said. The E.U. earlier this week banned imports of live birds and poultry products as well as feathers from Turkey. The Romanian ban will go into force on Thursday after an emergency meeting of the E.U. animal health committee. The Commission said the bird flu virus in Romania was identified by three veterinary experts at a laboratory in Weybridge in Britain. Earlier on Wednesday the Commission had said there was no evidence of the virus in Romania. Kyprianou said the E.U. was prepared for an influenza epidemic from either avian flu or other viruses.
