New bird flu cases in European Russia

MOSCOW - Another region in European Russia confirmed an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 and Croatia said it would cull more poultry after finding two dead wild swans suspected of having an avian flu strain.

The latest case of bird flu in Russia killed 12 hens at a private dacha, leading authorities to cull 53 ducks and hens at the locality and impose a quarantine.

The outbreak was in Tambov, 400 km southeast of Moscow, last week. Tests confirmed the H5N1 avian flu strain which can infect humans, a senior regional health official said.

Since emerging in 2003 in South Korea, H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries. Health experts fear it could mutate into a strain that can spread from human to human, triggering a worldwide pandemic and killing millions.

Carried by migratory birds, H5N1 has now moved west as far as European Russia, Turkey and Romania.

Countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have taken steps to try to stop migrating birds mixing with domestic fowl.

A spate of H5N1 cases or suspected cases in Europe in recent weeks has put authorities on alert at ports, airports and areas where migratory birds flock.

The 25-member European Union, the world's biggest importer of wild fowl, was set to ban imports of live captive and pet birds after a South American parrot died from H5N1 in Britain while in quarantine with birds from Taiwan.

The European Commission proposed a temporary ban and will present the plan to veterinary experts on Tuesday.

Suspected cases prompted authorities in Malta to seal a ship and quarantine the crew but birds on the vessel were later thought to have died of natural causes.

Fernand Sauer, director of public health and risk assessment at the European Commission, said confusion between different types of influenza was to blame for an exaggerated fear in Europe about the risks, which had reached hysteria.

Authorities across the continent were on high alert, but some cases turned out to be scares. Albanian veterinarians dissected a migratory bird that dropped dead out of the sky - but found lead shot not flu in its body.

Pigeons in Hungary appeared to have died from sunflower seed poisoning, but a dead swan on a lake bordering Austria caused more concern, and was being tested for flu.

PANDEMIC FEARS

Bird flu persisted on the EU's doorstep with Croatia, next to Hungary, saying it would cull more poultry after two wild swans died in the rural east where flu was found last week.

The swans were from the same flock as the initial cases and were confirmed with the same H5-type virus, Mate Brstilo, who heads the national committee for bird flu prevention, said.

Test results were expected this week on the six swans found last week, which should determine if they had H5N1.

Croatian authorities culled some 13,000 birds at the weekend in 500 farms near the pond where the first dead swans were found. It will now cull poultry around a nearby pond where the latest swans were found.

So far, H5N1 has infected domestic poultry and wild birds mostly in Asia, prompting massive culls there, but it has also moved from animals to humans in Asia.

A World Health Organisation official from Asia said Europe had a good chance of stopping H5N1 reaching its tame bird population because it had reacted faster and more openly.

"There is an excellent chance for Europe to contain the Asian flu," said Shigeru Omi.

A report that China would close its borders if it detected human-to-human transmission of bird flu unsettled Hong Kong stocks with shares in hotels, retailers and airlines sliding.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Countries that have already suffered from bird flu outbreaks were redoubling their efforts to stop its return.

North Korea said mechanisms were in place to eliminate "any slight symptoms in time", using its experience from an outbreak of a different strain earlier this year when more than 200,000 chickens were destroyed and 1.1 million poultry vaccinated.

South Korea is also under a bird flu alert, issued earlier this month and largely targeted at arriving migratory birds.

Nearly 400 South Korean poultry farms were affected between December 2003 and March 2004, and more than 5 million birds were slaughtered to halt the spread of an H5N2 strain.

An Australian firm said on Monday it was confident a vaccine it was testing in humans could protect against a pandemic form of the H5N1 virus unless it undergoes major genetic changes.

CSL Ltd, the world's largest maker of blood plasma products, has begun human vaccine trials using different dosages and hopes to know results by February.

A UN agency was sending experts to Indonesia to run house to house searches for infected chickens.

- REUTERS