Three
more countries detect bird flu Austria, Iran and Germany find deadly H5N1 strain
in wild swans By Reuters
Swans
swim near a power plant in Mellach, in the Austrian
province of Styria on Monday, Feb. 13, 2006.
Two birds found dead in recent days near this
plant appear to have been killed by the H5N1
bird flu strain an official said Tuesday, as
the Health Ministry announced strict measures
meant to control the disease outbreak.
(AP Photo/Helgo Sommer)
BERLIN
- Three more countries said on Tuesday they had detected
cases of deadly bird flu in wild swans, with Germany,
Iran and Austria the latest to find the virus that has
killed 91 people worldwide. Austria and Germany became
the third and fourth European Union countries to report
H5N1 bird flu, just three days after the bloc’s
first instances were confirmed by Italy and Greece.
Germany said its results came from initial tests. Both
countries said samples of the dead birds had been sent
to the EU’s reference laboratory in Britain for
confirmation.
Experts had said it was only a matter of time before
the H5N1 strain dangerous to humans broke out in Iran,
a wintering place for wildfowl that may be carriers.
Neighboring Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkey had already
reported outbreaks.
The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus has
killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East,
according to the World Health Organization.
Experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that can spread
between people and cause a pandemic that could kill
millions.
New cases of H5 bird flu were found in Romania, Europe’s
largest wetlands and a major migratory route for wild
birds.
Tests were under way in Britain to see if the new samples
were H5N1, of which Romania and neighbor Bulgaria have
already had cases.
Germany said it would bring forward to Feb. 17 a ban
on keeping poultry outdoors, and Italy said police had
impounded more than 80,000 chickens and 7,000 eggs from
farms in the south that were not respecting health norms.
Poultry sales fall
Across Europe and into Africa, countries have reported
sharp drops in poultry sales as the number of outbreaks
grows.
“I was buying 150 chickens every day for my stall before
the flu appeared,” said Hassan Mountacir, a butcher
in the central market in the Moroccan capital Rabat. “Now
I’m down to 10 or 20 at the most.”
The virus could soon spread further into Europe as migrating
birds return after wintering in Africa, the United Nations’
Food and Agriculture Organization said.
“We need to be aware that there’s a real risk
for Europe when the birds migrate northwards this spring,”
Samuel Jutzi, director of the FAO’s Animal Production
and Health Division, told reporters in Rome.
Health experts are trying to warn people of the dangers of
the virus that is contracted through direct contact with infected
birds, but are struggling in countries such as Nigeria where
poultry is everywhere -- on the streets and on buses.
International experts are in Nigeria to advise authorities
on what preventive measures they should be taking, including
closing live-poultry markets and restricting poultry movements.
“Above all it is an animal disease and if one wants
to avoid there being any human cases, the virus must really
be stamped out in the bird population,” World Health
Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva.
No human cases have been found in Nigeria, the first African
country to confirm cases of H5N1, and health officials said
on Tuesday that two children suspected of having the virus
probably did not have it after all.
Greece also said tests on a man suspected of having bird
flu had come back negative.
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