• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Croatia Swans Infected With H5N1 Virus

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Croatian news agency HINA

Zagreb, 26 October: The EU reference laboratory for bird flu in Weybridge, Great Britain, confirmed on Wednesday [26 October] that six swans from the Croatian fish farm Grudnjak were infected with the lethal H5N1 avian virus, said the head of the Zagreb Veterinary Institute Poultry Centre, Vladimir Savic.

Last Friday, the subtype H5 of the avian influenza virus was isolated from the organs of six of 12 dead swans found at Grudnjak in Zdenci municipality. Samples were immediately sent to Weybridge.

Speaking at a press conference at the agriculture ministry, Savic again appealed on Croatian poultry breeders to keep their poultry in closed spaces so that it could not contract the virus from wild birds.

"The whole Europe should keep poultry in closed spaces until an adequate strategy is found," he said, adding that all the measures that had been taken since Friday were justified.

He also said his centre had not received reports of new cases of bird flu, and that if the virus were to mutate and strike other animals, this would likeliest occur in the Far East.

The head of the crisis centre against bird flu, Mate Brstilo, said that all measures against the lethal virus remained in force. He added that if the disease spread among domestic poultry, danger zones would be proclaimed and the strictest measures applied within at least three kilometres from the outbreak point.

The head of the ornithology institute at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Dragan Radovic, said colleagues from Hungary confirmed today that an ill-looking swan found yesterday at Grudnjak fish pond had been ringed on Balaton lake around 9 September.

The European Union today officially said that presence of the highly pathogenic virus H5N1 had been confirmed in Croatia.

Following the discovery of the first suspicious case last weekend, the European Commission on Monday banned the import of live birds from Croatia, including live poultry, meat from wild birds and unprocessed feathers.

The ban remains in force, Commission spokesman Philip Tod said in Brussels today.

Source: BBC Monitoring European

More News in this Category