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EU holds urgent bird flu talks
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England -- European Union foreign ministers were holding hold emergency talks in Luxembourg Tuesday on the widening bird flu scare, a day after tests in Greece indicated the virus has reached the EU for the first time. The EU was preparing to ban sales of live birds and poultry from the Aegean Sea region of Chios pending tests on samples taken from turkeys feared infected with the deadly Asian H5N1 strain. Poultry from Turkey and Romania have already been banned by the EU as bird flu found there was confirmed as H5N1. Tests were also being carried out on birds in Bulgaria and Croatia. Romania detected new cases of suspected bird flu in the Danube delta Tuesday, one of them close to the border with Ukraine, Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said. (Full story) "A swan tested positive with antibodies close to the border with Ukraine, near the village of C.A. Rosetti," Flutur told reporters. "A few swans in Maliuc and a wild duck in Ceamurlia de Jos also tested seropositive." The Greek case on the island of Inousses confirmed Monday was the first recorded bird flu infection in the EU. (Full story) EU officials in Luxembourg told The Associated Press that foreign ministers are to discuss the international response to the westward spread of bird flu and take stock of EU nations' readiness to deal with a possible pandemic. Despite the fact that 117 people in Asia have been infected by the strain and 60 have died, H5N1 in its current form does not easily infect humans. However, its spread westward by migrating wild birds has intensified fears in Europe that the virus could mutate into one that can be easily transmitted among humans -- possibly putting millions of lives at risk. The EU stepped up biosecurity measures and installed early detection systems along the migratory paths of birds to prevent contamination of domestic flocks. But there are concerns that European nations lack stockpiles of vaccines and anti-virals to cope with a major outbreak. The World Health Organization recommends governments keep stocks of anti-viral drugs and regular human flu vaccines to inoculate at least 25 percent of their populations. European officials say the 25 nations in the EU, as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, have only 10 million doses now for an area of almost 500 million people, and will have only 46 million doses by the end of 2007. Stockpiling vaccines is difficult as flu viruses can mutate quickly. On Thursday, EU health ministers open a two-day meeting at a conference center in Hertfordshire, England, to assess the state of national bird flu preparedness. There is no human vaccine for the current strain of bird flu but scientists believe the Tamiflu drug may help humans fight bird flu contraction. The European Commission said Monday Greek veterinary authorities had informed it of a suspected case of avian influenza on the island of Inousses, based on a serological test that proved positive for the presence of avian influenza H5 antibodies. The samples were in the process of being sent for confirmation and virus isolation tests at the Greek national reference laboratory in Thessaloniki, and the European Commission said it had requested that samples also be sent immediately to the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, England. The EU said following consultations between the commission and the Greek Ministry of Agriculture, Greek authorities had agreed to restrict the dispatch of live poultry and poultry products as a precautionary measure. Monday the mayor of the island of Chios said a farmer on nearby Inousses who raises turkeys and chickens noted on Thursday that some of his birds had died. Two state veterinarians were sent in to look at nine turkeys. They also took blood samples from some chickens. The mayor said a state lab in Athens confirmed Monday afternoon that one of the nine samples proved positive for an H5-type virus. The Romanian government confirmed Saturday that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had been confirmed in Romania, the first instance of the lethal strain known to have reached Europe. A statement posted on the government Web site said the strain had been confirmed. Its existence in Romania bolsters the theory that the virus is spread by migratory birds. Journalist Anthee Carassava in Athens contributed to this report 
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