Bird Flu Center

With the first appearance of the disease far to the East, in Hong Kong, in 1997, Europe has considered itself relatively sheltered from the threat. However the virus has crossed boundaries far faster than expected and by the end of 2005 it was present in Eastern Europe as well. Countries like Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, Greece and Bulgaria, have had to face outbreaks of  the virus in different parts of their territory, but so far the suspiciouns that the infection might have spread to humans have remained just that. That is with the exception of Turkey, which, by June 20th, had even reported 4 deaths caused by the H5N1 strain which infected 12 people in total.

Close cooperation with international institutions such as the World Health organization, has helped most countries contain the virus, although Romania in particular was confronted with waves of the infection and a large number of hotbeds at a certain time. Other European countries are not crossing hands and are implementing prevention plans against the disease, to ensure a certain level of preparedness for themselves. Western countries in particular are paying close attention to suspicious cases of infections in both animals and humans, while some have even started research projects meant to develop flu drugs into a possible vaccine for the disease. Such projects are based in countries like France and Hungary, while the United Kingdom has the main facility for testing samples for the deadly virus.