LUXEMBOURG, October 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – EU Foreign Ministers held on Tuesday, October 18, emergency talks on the approaching danger of avian flu, as Greece investigated what could prove the first appearance of the deadly strain in an EU member.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, chairing the EU meeting, said the main purpose was to reassure citizens that every precaution was being taken to prevent the avian influenza outbreak mutating into a pandemic that could kill humans, Reuters reported.

The EU must ensure "above all that there are the most adequate contingency plans across Europe to deal with any transfer of the avian virus to human beings," he told reporters. "So far within wider Europe that has not happened but we have to be prepared."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged calm amid media reports colored by alarm after emergence of the H5N1 strain of the virus, potentially fatal to human beings, in birds in Turkey and Romania.

"I don't think we have to enter into panic," Solana said.

Scientists confirmed on Sunday, October 16, that the potentially deadly H5N1 virus, carried west by migratory birds, had been detected for the first time on the European continent in southeastern Romania's Danube delta region.

Two days earlier, it was confirmed in the Asian part of northwest Turkey.

Fueling concerns the virus may already have spread deeper into Europe, Greece said Monday, October 17, that antibodies of H5 birdflu -- of which the deadly H5N1 is a variant -- had been found in the blood of a dead turkey on an Aegean island.

Greece announced a ban on all poultry shipments from the region as it awaited further tests to show whether the bird carried and died of birdflu, and whether it is the lethal Asian variant of the virus.

A team of doctors from Greece's Centre for the Control of Infectious Diseases arrived on the islet of Oinousses early Tuesday to test the elderly owners of the small turkey flock that yielded the positive result for birdflu antibodies.

On Tuesday, the Romanian agriculture ministry said that similar anti-bodies had been found in the blood of a swan in the east of the Danube delta three days after the first outbreak was discovered.

A health expert collects chickens for culling in northwestern Turkey. (Reuters)

Swiss drugmaker Roche, under pressure to increase output of its antiviral agent Tamiflu, signaled on Tuesday it was ready to grant other firms licences to make the drug.

Countries throughout Europe are seeing a run on the drug as alarm grows. The drug is considered a first line of defense against a potential flu pandemic.

The company also announced that it would go ahead with a new facility to produce the drug in the United States, following approval from the US Federal Drug Administration, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We are prepared to discuss all the available options, including granting sub-licences, with any government or private company, who approach us to manufacture Tamiflu, or collaborate with us in its manufacturing," said William Burns, head of Roche's drugs division.

Roche insisted that any partner must be able to "realistically produce substantial amounts of the medicine for emergency pandemic use" and meet quality, safety and regulatory requirements.

The group has repeatedly warned that the production process is complex and costly.

The spread of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in Asia since 2003 has prompted mass stockpiling of the drug by governments amid fears that the virus could cause a human flu pandemic.

Pharmacies in Europe were also stripped of the drug following the emergence of the strain in migrating birds in Greece, Turkey and Romania adding to the pressure on Roche.

The Swiss group has now received orders for national stockpiles from 40 countries.

It has also donated enough Tamiflu to treat three million people to the World Health Organisation and is trying to cope with additional demand from anxious private customers.

Roche was aiming to raise output eight to tenfold over 2003 levels within 18 months on its own.

The Financial Times reported last week that the Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla planned to produce a generic version of Tamiflu.

Scientists fear if the birdflu virus, which originated in Asia, were to pass on any large scale from birds to humans it could mutate into a variety that could spread between humans. In a virulent form, they say, this could kill millions worldwide.

The World Health Organization has expressed fears that alarm in Europe could distract attention from what is the real seat of the danger in southeast Asia.

More than 60 people have died of the disease in Asia where, by contrast to Europe, people often live close to poultry and are exposed to a greater peril.

The H5N1 strain first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, when it caused the death or destruction of 1.5 million birds. Eighteen people fell ill, of whom six died.