Bird flu prompts Romania to cull 1 million birds

The virus has been found in three central locations according to the country’s Agriculture Minister, Gheorghe Flutur.

“Almost 1 million birds will be culled in total in central Romanian regions that have been hit or could be hit by bird flu,” Flutur told a press conference.

The first dead birds from the village of Hurezu were discovered Tuesday, said Aurelian Danu, top government official for the county of Brasov, in a statement. A total of 14 domestic fowl were diagnosed with bird flu, he said.


Authorities will later disinfect the area. Further tests will determine whether the birds have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.


There have been outbreaks of H5N1 in 53 communities since October, and authorities have culled more than 150,000 birds. This is the first outbreak of bird flu in Romania since the end of April and the first time bird flu has been detected in Transylvania.


Danu said health officials will make checks in abattoirs, markets and shops of chicken meat and eggs throughout the county to stop a potential spread of the disease.


Romania reported its first cases of H5N1 in domestic fowl in October in its eastern Danube Delta region, which is crossed by hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. No human cases have been reported in the country.