Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said early Thursday morning that a strain of avian influenza has been detected in samples from Romanian ducks, confirming that the H5 bird flu virus has arrived in Europe.

Scientists have detected the virus in samples taken from three ducks found in the Danube delta, Romanian TV reported Thursday.

So far, there has been no report of human beings affected by the virus, said the TV report.

Last Sunday, a large number of ducks died of disease in the Danube delta area, and the Romanian authorities suspected that the deaths were caused by bird flu virus and decided to take measures to prevent its spread.

The European Union confirmed the Romanian findings on Thursday and immediately said it would ban the import of Romanian poultry.

Bird flu began sweeping through Thai poultry flocks in late 2003, all but wiping out markets for what was then one of the world's largest poultry exporters.

Source: Xinhua