Bulgaria's Minister of Agriculture has ordered the National Veterinary Service to monitor an outbreak of avian flu in neighboring Romania.

Minister Miroslav Naydenov has announced that the National Veterinary & Medical Service (NVMS) will tighten controls at its regional centers, and will take all measures necessary to monitor and limit the spread of the virus.

The veterinarians have also been alerted to the risk of transmission across to Bulgaria by migratory and wild birds.

Romania has confirmed the outbreak in the village of Letea, in the southeastern Tulcea region, where almost 50 dead birds were found on two farms.

Laboratory tests have confirmed that the strain is the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus type H5N1.

All birds on the farms will be slaughtered, and a 6-km protective zone will be set up, within a wider, 20-km "high risk" zone.

This is the first confirmed case of bird flu in the European Union since March 2009, when the virus was discovered in Germany.

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