Status of bird flu in Europe

JANUARY 16, 2006: 

European Union - The EU pledged $100 million in aid to boost the global fight against bird flu on January 13 and Turkey stepped up the culling of birds to try to stop the deadly virus spreading further. 

France - France said on January 13 it was extending its poultry confinement measures to 58 departments of the 96 in mainland France, from an original 26, as fears grow over a virus believed to be carried by migratory birds.

Germany - Germany has increased customs checks on people entering from Turkey to stop illegal imports of poultry products.

Greece - Greece, which has banned all animal produce from Turkey, is spraying vehicles entering the country through its northeastern border with Turkey as a precautionary measure.

Netherlands - The Dutch government said on January 12 it wants to vaccinate its huge poultry population against bird flu. The European Commission has yet to approve vaccination. The Netherlands, Europe's second biggest poultry producer after France, is home to 90 million poultry.

Romania - Romania has found highly pathogenic avian flu in 26 villages in and outside the Danube delta, Europe's largest wetlands and a major migratory route for wild birds.

Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin told the government on January 10 to take measures to prevent a new outbreak. Russia has been battling with bird flu in poultry since July, culling more than 600,000 domestic fowl. The virus has been confined in eight Russian regions but no case of human infection has been so far registered in Russia.

Ukraine - Mass poultry deaths were detected at the start of the month at three poultry plants in Primorskoe village in Crimea. Ukraine reported its first outbreak of bird flu in a dozen villages in Crimea, a major stopover point for migratory birds, in late November.

* * *

OCTOBER 14, 2005:

Birds in Turkey have been found with the H5N1 type of avian flu that is dangerous to humans and Europe must prepare for the risk of a pandemic, the European Commission said on Thursday.

In Romania, samples from ducks confirmed the H5 avian virus had arrived in eastern Europe but tests were still being carried out to determine whether it was the H5N1 strain that can be deadly for humans.

Following are key facts about the spread of bird flu towards Europe and efforts being made to try to prevent it:

Among the countries to ban imports of poultry and poultry products from Turkey and Romania: the 25-nation European Union, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, its Kosovo province, Montenegro, Switzerland, Ukraine and Georgia.

Russia - reported a strain of H5N1 bird flu in a wild bird in Siberia in October 2004. It banned poultry imports from Italy following an outbreak of avian flu in the Italian province of Brescia in April 2005, and lifted the ban on Oct 4. Russia detected the less virulent AH5 virus in July 2005 and culled 120,000 birds and quarantined its Novosibirsk region.

Turkey - detected bird flu last Saturday after 2,000 birds died on a farm near the Aegean Sea. 2,500 birds were culled and quarantine zones were imposed. EU Health and Consumer Protection chief Markos Kyprianou said on Thursday the strain of bird flu found in Turkey had been identified as the same H5N1 virus strain that has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.

Romania - first reported bird flu last week in its Danube delta region, which attracts migratory birds from Russia, Scandinavia, Poland and Germany. Romania said on Thursday its scientists detected H5 avian virus in samples from ducks and announced plans to slaughter thousands of birds. The samples will be sent to a British laboratory and it could take several days to establish whether it is the H5N1 strain which can be deadly for humans.

Bulgaria - Bulgaria has tested around 30 dead birds but has found no cases of avian flu, officials said on Thursday. On Monday, it banned imports of live birds, feathers, eggs and poultry products from Turkey and Romania and stepped up checks at borders and poultry farms. It has banned bird hunting and sent leaflets to farmers on dealing with a bird flu outbreak.

Croatia - has started testing wild ducks and domestic poultry on Thursday in a campaign to prevent the spread of potentially deadly avian flu.

Montenegro - has banned the import of birds or bird products from affected countries, the hunt of wild birds and the free movement of poultry on private farms.

Serbia - existing ban on the import of poultry and poultry products from affected countries is updated when a new country is put on the list of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). It has also banned wild bird hunting. 

European Union - announced a ban on October 10 on all imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey into the 25-nation bloc after Ankara confirmed the avian flu outbreak. It banned similar imports from Romania on Thursday.

Austria - is planning a training programme in next 14 days to prepare state veterinarians for a possible outbreak.

Britain - stockpiled 14.6 million courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu in March 2005 in case of an outbreak of bird flu. It culled nearly 3000 pheasants in July after an outbreak of Newcastle disease, a strain of avian flu unrelated to the current Asian outbreak. In September 2005 it sent doctors guidance on identifying and containing an outbreak of the virus.

Cyprus - plans to stockpile antiviral drugs and authorities are fast-tracking approval of funds to buy drugs equivalent to 4-5 per cent of Cyprus' population, just under a million. Authorities have 60,000 vaccines in stock.

Denmark - has intensified monitoring of wild birds and free- range poultry. The poultry industry has tightened guidelines on monitoring and dealing with the animals.

Finland - has bought antiviral drugs for about 1.3 million people for its 5.2 million population to treat first cases of infection and key emergency personnel. It has held a dry run of what to do in the event of an outbreak and allocated 20.8 million euros ($24.93 million) to buy vaccine to inoculate its entire population.

France - After the Russian outbreak, France told poultry producers to be on guard for any illness among their flocks.

Germany - is tightening controls at airports and borders to try to stop illegal animal imports bringing avian flu into the country, Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said on Thursday. After reports a strain of the virus had reached Russia in July, authorities placed orders for more than 6 million doses of antiviral drugs to distribute in case of an outbreak.

Greece - was checking a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship near the port of Piraeus on Thursday after finding suspect dead and living migratory birds on board. Athens is considering calling a meeting of health ministers from Black Sea and Balkan countries to discuss joint measures in case of an birdflu emergency in the region.

Hungary - the only EU state bordering Romania, said on Thursday all trucks carrying poultry which transit through Romania would be disinfected at the border to combat the spread of bird flu.

Italy - detected a low risk H5N2 avian flu virus in April 2005 and destroyed at least 180,000 turkeys, but the outbreak did not pose a threat to public health.

Poland - Warsaw said on Thursday that if Romanian cases of avian flu turn out to be caused by the H5N1 strain, it will order poultry be kept indoors. It will also ban poultry trade in the marketplace and order poultry, feed and water be kept inside until the end of November.

Slovenia - has increased control over imports of animals and animal products to protect the country of bird flu.

The Netherlands - An outbreak of suspected bird flu in 2003 led to the slaughter of a quarter of all Dutch poultry at a cost of hundreds of millions of euros.

ELSEWHERE:

Saudi Arabia - has banned the import of chickens or birds from countries where cases of bird flu have been reported.

Iran - has banned poultry imports and imports of birds from countries where cases of bird flu have been found. The health ministry has plans to form an emergency headquarters and train farmers to deal with the virus in case of an emergency.

Egypt - has banned the import of live birds, whether commercial or by passengers, and tightened quarantine controls at airports to keep out bird flu. It has cancelled the annual bird-hunting season.

Morocco - a favourite spot for migrating birds, is putting the final touches on a plan to combat any breakout of avian flu, a health ministry official said on Thursday. He said no bird flu had been detected up to now.

- REUTERS