Brussels, 15/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has suggested giving support to Indonesia to help it combat avian flu, as the virus H5N1 has been detected in 23 of the 33 provinces of that country where five cases of the virus have also been confirmed in humans. After visiting Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, the Commissioner for health and consumer protection, Markos Kyprianou, was in Indonesia on Tuesday where he met Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono. Aid could take the form of health inspections and a vaccination campaign or participation in the culling of contaminated fowl, Reuters reports.
A new outbreak of the H5N1 virus was notified in the Chinese province of Xinjiang on Tuesday. Also, Romania is carrying out complementary tests to determine the characteristics of the avian flu virus discovered in the Danube delta.
Furthermore, the European Commission welcomed the announcement that an international donors conference would be held to fight bird flu, on 17 and 18 January 2006, in China. The event is to be sponsored by the European Commission and the World Bank.