Croatia finds bird flu virus in dead swans

ZAGREB - Croatian scientists have detected a bird flu virus in wild swans found dead at a fish pond, the agriculture ministry said. Croatia immediately banned hunting and transport of wild fowl and poultry.

"We have sent samples to Britain for further checks. There were six dead swans found in Orahovica fish pond in eastern Croatia," ministry spokesman Mladen Pavic said.

A government statement issued by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said the results of those checks were expected in two days but added there was no cause for alarm:

"We are taking all necessary measures to prevent the virus from spreading. We don't think there is any danger for people."

The European Commission said it was preparing a ban on imports of poultry from Croatia following the news.

"The European Commission is preparing a decision to ban the import of live poultry and poultry products from Croatia which will be adopted by urgent procedure on Monday," the EU executive said in a statement.

The Croatian government had assured the Commission that no live poultry and poultry products would be dispatched from the former Yugoslav republic to the European Union, the Commission added.

The Croatian agriculture ministry banned hunting of wild fowl and transport of poultry and told farmers to keep poultry indoors.

It also banned the slaughter and sale of poultry in an area of 20km around the fish pond.

"I expect more indirect damage from this, as it will be difficult to convince people that eating locally raised poultry is safe," Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic told an emergency news conference.

In Romania, which shares the Danube waterway with Croatia, and in Turkey, hundreds of kilometres to the south, the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus has been confirmed in wild birds and poultry. This is the strain that some experts warn could cause a devastating pandemic among humans.

Cases in Greece and Macedonia, south of Croatia but closer, are still being examined to determine exactly what virus may be involved in bird deaths there.

Zoologists say the Danube is a natural pathway for some species of migratory birds moving west and south for the winter, which may have been in contact with the most recent flu virus to the east. It originated in Asia several years ago.

"These swans almost certainly did not come from Romania or Turkey, which means there is a source of bird flu somewhere else in Europe," ornithologist Dragan Radovic told reporters.
- REUTERS