THE H5 bird flu virus has been detected in a swan in EU member Slovenia, EU officials said today.
"The Slovenian authorities today informed the European Commission of a confirmed case of avian influenza virus H5 in a swan," a statement issued by the EU's executive branch.
A Slovenian laboratory made a first analysis and sent samples to the EU Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, England, for further tests, it said.
The announcement came a day after Bulgaria, Greece and Italy said the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the flu had been detected on their territory.
Slovenia pledged to immediately apply the same precautionary measures as those set out in a commission decision adopted for Greece and Italy during the weekend.
These include establishing a high-risk area, or three km protection zone around the area where the swan was found, and a surrounding surveillance zone of 10km.
Slovenian authorities are in close contact with their Austrian counterparts, since the surveillance area crosses the Slovenian-Austrian border, the EU statement said.
In the protection zone, poultry must be kept indoors, movement of poultry is banned except directly to the slaughterhouse and the dispatch of meat outside the zone is forbidden except where products have undergone the controls provided for in EU food control legislation.
This implies that meat comes from healthy animals in registered farms and is "subject to ante- and post-mortem checks by vets in the slaughterhouse".
In both the protection zone and the surveillance zone, on-farm biosecurity measures must be strengthened, hunting of wild birds is banned and poultry owners and their families must be aware of the disease.
The avian influenza crisis will be reviewed by the EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health which meets on Friday and Saturday.
Bird flu can be caused by a large variety of viruses including H5N1, H5N2, and H7N7 which are more or less harmful to humans.
The virus has killed tens of millions of birds since 2003 and infected at least 165 people, 88 of whom have died, mainly in Asia.
The infections were caused by the virulent Asian strain of H5N1, but less pathogenic strains of H5N1 exist.
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