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The Second Wave of H5N1 has returned to Romania bringing havoc, criticism and more economic woos to the already beleaguered European country.

Here are some highlights:

Romanian President Traian Basescu had to leave his hospital bed to scold authorities for not handling the bird flu crisis adequately!

The president also said that a report from the Romanian Intelligence Services (SRI) stating the new bird flu cases might be a result of imports of live birds from Slovakia and Hungary, “Aims to take the blame off local authorities.” In otherwords, there is some infighting between various arms of the government.

And while Romania immediately quarantined the area, that too was criticized by the locals who said they had no warning and were scared to see tall fences being built on their streets before they could get food and water supplies. Romanian television broadcast scenes of angry residents demanding that they be allowed to go to work. Several said they had to pay for food the government provided.

The latest outbreaks of the H5N1 virus happened in Brasov, some 170 km north of the capital Bucharest. In the flurry to secure the area and stop the spread from getting into the capital, arrests have also been made of those who “sold live chickens to peasants without having health or veterinary certificates,” according to the Agriculture Minister.

Romania - not the richest of countries but a European Union candidate - has had to cull nearly half a million birds since October 2005. Now, neighbor countries Bulgaria, Moldova and Hungary are seeking ways to control their borders against this second wave. Bulgaria has already banned Romanian poultry over Bird Flu worries.

Romania has since lifted the original quarantine. Unfortunately, from a medical point of view a quarantine for four days isn’t long enough. A quarantine of a week to 10 days is more realistic. So what to do? Do you let the residents get angry and scared or do you lift the quarantine prematurely hoping the initial danger of spreading the virus is over? Not an easy situation. Comments?

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