by Playfuls Staff |
11th February 2006
According to official statements, the H5N1 bird flu virus was found in dead swans in Italy and Greece. Italian Health Minister Francesco Storace said the highly pathogenic strain, responsible for the deaths of some 90 people, mainly in Asia, had been found in [more] two dead swans on the island of Sicily and was suspected in at least half-a-dozen birds elsewhere in the south of the country.
"We are relatively unworried as regards human health but there are reasons for concern for animal health," he said. The swans had arrived from the Balkans, Storace said
Meanwhile, Greece's agriculture minister confirmed that tests conducted in a British laboratory on samples from three swans in northern Greece revealed that they had died of the H5N1 strain of the virus.
"In all regions where the H5 or H5N1 virus is detected planned preventative steps are enforced by official health authorities; therefore there is no reason to take new measures," the Greek agriculture ministry said, warning against panicking as no poultry farms had been affected.
This is the first time when the H5N1 virus is detected in EU.
