Bird flu triggers roadblock in Turkey; Romania also has cases

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey’s agriculture minister confirmed the country’s first cases of bird flu Saturday and ordered the destruction of all birds in the village where it was detected to prevent the disease from spreading, the Anatolia news agency said.

Police have also set up roadblocks at the village near Balikesir in western Turkey, 250 miles from Istanbul. The officers checked vehicles to make certain no birds were going in or out.

The birds belonged to a turkey farmer, CNN-Turk reported, saying that 2,000 birds died. Anatolia said animals on the farm that did not die of the disease were destroyed.

Cases of bird flu were also confirmed Saturday in Romania, which borders Turkey.

Anatolia, quoting officials, said the birds in Turkey died of the H5 type of bird flu, but it was not immediately clear whether it is the strain that health officials are particularly worried about. There are several strains of bird flu, but only a few are deadly. Experts are tracking a strain known as H5N1 for fear it could mutate and spawn a human flu pandemic.

H5N1 has swept through poultry populations in Asia since 2003, infecting humans and killing at least 60 people, mostly poultry workers, and resulting in the deaths of more than 100 million birds. The virus does not pass from person to person easily.