Tests on an infected turkey have confirmed that deadly bird flu in Romania has spread outside the Danube delta where it was first detected in October, officials said on Friday, according to Reuters. Romania last month sent a turkey to Britain for further tests after it was found to have a form of avian flu. The bird was from the small village of Scarlatesti in Braila county, some 70 miles (110 km) west of the area where the virus was first detected in birds in the Danube delta. "The turkey from Scarlatesti in the Braila county tested positive for H5N1 in London," an official from the veterinary agency told Reuters. The results show the disease has spread to birds on the fringes of more populated regions of Romania. Scarlatesti, a village of 1,000 farmers in an area of lakes, lies close to a number of towns. It is 170 km from the capital Bucharest. The H5N1 strain of bird flu is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia where it has killed 70 people. It remains hard for people to catch, but there are fears it could mutate into a form which passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die. There have been no cases of human infection outside of Asia. Avian flu has since been found in birds in a dozen or so villages in and around the Danube delta, Europe's largest wetlands which lies on a major migratory route for wild birds. Three previous outbreaks have been confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain.
