Bird Flu: An Emergency Meeting by EU Ministers
European Union foreign ministers held emergency bird flu talks on Tuesday to balance moves to test for outbreaks of deadly bird flu with keeping people calm and avoiding widespread panic after the disease was found in Turkey and Romania.
The EU blocked poultry shipments from Greece on Monday night following confirmation that the H5 virus was identified in a turkey from the Aegean island of Oinoussa. It is the first member state of the European Union to report a case of bird flu.
The discovery of the infected bird in Greece comes as the US is preparing a dramatic increase in funding for south-east Asian countries battling the bird flu virus .
USAID has declared the virus its top global health priority. As a result the US is looking at sending more funds to south-east Asia, pending congressional approval.
The US Congress had previously approved $25m emergency funding to fight bird flu in Asia.
Requests for US support were likely to grow, as the virus spread into eastern Europe. But fighting bird flu in countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam was crucial to slow its spread and to prepare better for a possible pandemic.
H5N1 has infected 117 people in four countries and killed 60, according to the WHO.
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