Bird Flu in Romania: Live Poultry Sales Forbidden for 30 Days

Live poultry sales are forbidden in Romania for 30 days, starting from Saturday, May 8.

A bird flu outbreak was identified in the North-Western region of the country and caused the authorities to take this decision. The outbreak was localized at a farm in the county of Mures, where 180,000 birds were grown.

Romania tries to tackle this wave of bird flu by taking this drastic measure, hoping for the situation to be improved in the next 30 days.

The decision of the authorities has an exception: certified poultry farms with no confirmed case of avian influenza can still sell poultry while respecting all the conditions for the health of the consumers.

It is the first outbreak of the bird flu in Romania this year and so far it was identified only at that farm, while in Europe, avian influenza has already caused huge losses among the biggest poultry farms. The most seriously hit European country is Poland where more than 200 outbreaks were discovered across the country.

Romania was the first European country where the avian influenza was confirmed in 2005 after the H5N1 virus caused huge concern in Asia and worldwide.