Expert laboratories have not confirmed bird flu, let alone the presence of the H5N1 strain that experts are tracking for fear it could mutate to become a dangerous human virus.

But officials moved quickly to contain and combat the disease, with both countries killing thousands of birds and Romania administering the standard flu vaccine, which is believed may help ward off bird flu in rare instances that people contract it.

Difficult to Diagnose

The EU on Monday banned imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey. Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Poland, Ukraine and Serbia-Montenegro also banned poultry imports from both Turkey and Romania.

The EU sent experts to Romania and Turkey to help with testing samples for bird flu.

First tests by Romanian scientists were inconclusive, and further tests would be conducted by labs in Britain, Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said. "I hope this week we'll clarify things," he said.

Bird flu is difficult to diagnose correctly, especially in initial tests. Samples normally are sent to one of a handful of expert laboratories for confirmation.

In western Turkey, military police quarantined the area around two villages -- Kaziksa and Salur in Balikesir province -- as veterinarians culled some 2,500 turkeys and 400 chickens, Agriculture Ministry official Beytullah Okay said.

Other fowl, including pigeons, and stray dogs were to be killed as a precaution, said Nihat Pakdil, deputy undersecretary of the ministry. Hunting was banned in the region and a poultry market in Bursa, some 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Balikesir, was shut down. Moldova and the republic of Montenegro also banned bird hunting.

H5 Type Virus

Preliminary tests detected bird flu at a farm between the Turkish villages of Salur and Kaziksa after some 1,800 birds died last week. Scientists have narrowed the disease in Turkey down to an H5 type virus, but have not determined if it is the H5N1 strain that health officials are particularly worried about, Agriculture Ministry official Beytullah Okay said.

Samples were sent to a laboratory in Denmark, with results expected late Wednesday, officials said.

In eastern Romania, 40,000 birds were to be slaughtered in coming days, authorities said. Some 13,500 people were injected with a standard flu vaccine as a precaution, and vaccines for thousands more were available, the Health Ministry said.

Romanian authorities reported the country's first suspected bird flu cases on Friday: Three domestic ducks in the eastern village of Ceamurlia de Jos tested positive for bird flu antibodies.

Farmers in the village protested Monday against the killing of their birds, saying authorities should first confirm whether bird flu was even present. The government promised compensation for the culled birds, as well as emergency food supplies.

Preventive Measures

H5N1 has swept through poultry populations in Asia since 2003, infecting 116 humans and killing 60 people, mostly poultry workers, and resulting in the deaths of more than 100 million birds. The virus does not infect humans easily but experts believe it could mutate into a form that becomes a human flu virus, passing easily between people and triggering a pandemic.

"I think it's better to take these preventive measures now," even without confirmation of H5N1, Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said.

In Turkey, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the disease appeared to have been contained. "Thank God, there have not been any suspicions, any reports anywhere else," he said. "Our citizens should be at ease."

Large poultry producers raced to reassure the public that their facilities were clean and free of disease. The head of Turkey's veterinarians association urged the government to swiftly compensate farmers.

"Some producers will choose to hide the disease in order to minimize their losses," Mustafa Altintas said. "You cannot keep the virus in control under these circumstances."

Okay said Turkey exports poultry mainly to East Asia and the Middle East. Turkey exported US$20 million worth of poultry last year and US$13 million in the first six months of 2005.