The European Commission has said it is taking further action following the confirmation last night of the presence of avian influenza H5 virus in Romania and the results from the EU laboratory this morning [Thursday] indicating that the avian influenza virus in Turkey is the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain.
The Commission said the strain detected in Turkey is closely related to a virus detected in a wild bird in central Asia a few months ago. Further tests are necessary to ascertain if the virus detected in Romania is also the H5N1 strain. The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has been known to infect humans through contact with infected birds, causing death in some cases.
The Commissions said there will be an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health in Brussels this afternoon, where measured to protect the EU against the disease will be discussed.
A decision to ban imports of live birds, poultry meat and other poultry products from Romania has been adopted today, similar to the measures taken against poultry from Turkey on Monday.