Romania and Turkey began the slaughter of thousands of domestic fowl Sunday, as a precaution against the spread of bird flu, after both countries confirm their first cases of the disease over the weekend.

In western Turkey, military police set up roadblocks at the entrance of a village near Balikesir. A two-mile radius was quarantined as veterinarians and other officials began destroying poultry at two turkey farms

Officials from 80 countries gathered in Washington on Friday to come up with plans to fight the threat of a global outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu. President Bush urged pharmaceutical executives to focus on influenza vaccines. It's the latest in a series of preparations for a possible pandemic after criticism of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Experts have been warning since 2003 that bird flu is the biggest current health threat to the world but policy efforts to battle it have increased in recent weeks.

The virus has killed millions of birds across Asia and infected more than 100 people, killing more than 60 of them in four Asian countries. Manufacturing a vaccine for bird flu would involve the same methods used for a vaccine against regular flu. But experts say the country's flu vaccine system is now so weak that if there were a bird flu outbreak, a vaccine would not be an option. Following last year's flu vaccine shortage, Congress and health agencies are working to find ways to lure drug companies back into the business of making it

According to the U.S. State Department, global health experts are meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss a coordinated response to the bird flu epidemic.

"What this event does is it brings together 65-plus countries and international organizations that are concerned about preventing the spread of avian influenza," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack tells reporters

Health ministry officials announce Indonesia is suspected of having more than 50 cases of bird flu. While the announcement includes a reduction of the death rate from five to six, experts are weary of the possibility the H5N1 bird flu virus could set off a pandemic if it gains the ability to be passed easily among people.

Bird flu has killed 65 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds throughout Russia and Europe. It has the ability to kill one out of every two infected people

A biotech firm that makes an inhaled flu vaccine is signing up with the U.S. government to try to create a version of its vaccine for avian flu.

Maryland-based MedImmune will work with top U.S. government flu experts to develop a new vaccine against the H5N1 avian flu, which has killed 65 people in Asia since 2003