China tightens bird-flu measures further
(AP/China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-22 07:17

Developments in others countries and regions

In Romania, authorities will destroy 2,000 poultry in the village of Caraorman along the Danube River after tests confirmed that four hens there had the H5N1 flu strain, said Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur.

"We are keeping things under control," Flutur told television station Realitatea TV.

Elsewhere in Europe, birds have tested positive for H5N1 in Russia, Croatia and Turkey.

In North Korea, a customs official said the country has banned poultry imports from countries with bird flu and is scrutinizing arriving travelers and goods.

"We're quarantining people who are suspected of even a small thing," said the official, Kim Hyong Chol, quoted by the Korean Central News agency.

North Korea suffered a bird flu outbreak in February that prompted it to destroy 210,000 chickens and other poultry.

In Indonesia, authorities were waiting for confirmation from a World Health Organization-authorized lab in Hong Kong after preliminary tests on the 35-year-old man who died in Jakarta were positive for bird flu, said Health Ministry official I Nyoman Kandun.

Throughout Asia, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 67 people since 2003. Almost all of them came into close contact with infected birds.

Experts fear that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that can easily be passed from human to human, sparking a pandemic.

The WHO has recommended that governments stockpile Tamiflu, one of the only drugs believed to be effective against bird flu. But its Swiss maker, Roche Holding AG, says high demand and the lengthy period needed for production have led to shortages.

On Monday, Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute said it has produced shikimic acid, a key Tamiflu ingredient, from three unidentified plants.

Taiwan authorities have been negotiating with Roche for a possible license to make generic Tamiflu for a possible bird flu outbreak. Roche's supplies of shikimic acid come from the Chinese mainland.

Taiwanese "Premier" Frank Hsieh said last month that production of Tamiflu for 2.3 million people — 10 percent of the island's population — could begin in December and take about one month.