November 3, 2005

Croatia says swan from Hungary had deadly bird flu

A swan that flew into Croatia from neighbouring Hungary carried the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the agriculture ministry said Wednesday.

The swan, shot down last week in the area where eight swans had already tested positive to the H5N1 strain, was ringed in Hungary, but ornithologists there insisted the bird was healthy when marked. Hungary has reported no case of bird flu.

The analysis was carried out by Croatian experts.

Last week, six swans found dead in a nature park of Zdenci in eastern Croatia Oct 21 tested positive for H5N1, as well as two others, found dead later in an adjacent pond.

Croatian authorities believe all the swans belonged to the same flock which came from Hungary.

The region has already been disinfected and all domestic poultry there culled.

The strain-closely watched by experts for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted to people and therefore cause a pandemic-earlier appeared in Romania, Turkey and Russia.

The agriculture ministry also said Wednesday that three dead swans found last week in another eastern region tested negative for bird flu, as did a dozen of pheasants found dead further to the east.