Lab tests show H5N1 in dead Slovenian swan

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – A swan found in Slovenia this month
died of the lethal H5N1 avian flu virus strain, according to
laboratory tests performed in Italy, a government spokesman
told Reuters on Thursday.

This is the first confirmed case of H5N1 in Slovenia, a
tiny former Yugoslav republic that joined the European Union in
2004. Its southern neighbor Croatia detected the virus in dead
swans in October, when it culled thousands of local poultry.

“The lab tests from Italy confirmed the H5N1,” spokesman
Branko Vidrih said. Slovenia sent samples of the H5 virus from
a swan found dead at the Drava river near the city of Maribor,
less than 10 km (6 miles) from the Austrian border last week.

It sent them to laboratories in Padova, Italy and Weybridge
in Britain.

The swan had not been in contact with local poultry, but
the government had sealed off a 10-km area and banned transport
of poultry in and out of the area, said Agriculture Ministry
spokesman Tomaz Hrastar.

It also culled poultry at two local farms whose owners had
handled the dead swan and another dead wild bird while taking
them in for tests, he said. The people are not being tested,
but doctors are checking them.

Slovenian laboratories are currently checking for the
presence of the virus in some 35 wild birds.

So far, the H5N1 strain has been confirmed in four other EU
countries — Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany.