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Croatia confirms new case of H5N1 bird flu
The highly pathogenic form of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in a wild swan found dead last week on a Croatian island, the agriculture ministry has said.
The highly pathogenic form of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in a wild swan found dead last week on a Croatian island, the agriculture ministry of the country said on Tuesday.
"The swan found dead on (the southern island of) Ciovo was infected by the H5N1 virus," agriculture ministry spokesman Mladen Pavic said.
The deadly form of the virus was first detected in Croatia in October, in the eastern part of the country, but its spread was halted by strict containment measures.
Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic had said earlier that the island, located near the southern town of Trogir, was an unusual location for the species.
Ciovo has a rather small number of poultry, he said, judging that there was a "very small probability that poultry there could be in danger."
Meanwhile, veterinary authorities have started to disinfect a three-kilometre zone surrounding the beach where the dead swan was found.
During the past two weeks, tests carried out on some 30 swans in Croatia have all turned out negative for bird flu. Since 2003, the H5N1 virus has claimed at least 90 human lives, mostly in Asia.
