ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia said on Wednesday tests had confirmed the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus strain in wild swans found dead at a pond in eastern Croatia last week.
"Results from the laboratory in Weybridge confirmed the H5N1 virus, which shows that our measures were justified. I once again urge poultry producers to take this seriously and keep poultry indoors," said veterinary expert Vladimir Savic.
Croatian agriculture ministry worker slaughters a chicken at a farm in the village of Zdenci in this October 22, 2005 file photo. Croatia said on Wednesday tests had confirmed the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus strain in wild swans found dead at a pond in eastern Croatia last week. (REUTERS)
He warned that the spreading of the virus among poultry would have very serious consequences. "The situation is serious for the whole of Europe until a strategy is found, so I cannot say for how long the poultry will have to be kept indoors," Savic added.
The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003, has been detected in Romania, Turkey, Russia and in an exotic wild bird imported and quarantined in Britain.
Germany and Greece are still testing dead birds to see if they died of avian flu.
Croatian authorities culled 17,000 poultry around the Grudnjak fish pond at the weekend to prevent the virus from spreading. Another 10,000 poultry were killed around another pond nearby, where two more wild swans died of bird flu.
Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic said the government would pay some 0.8 million kuna ($130,800) in compensation for the culled poultry starting from Thursday.
Mate Brstilo, who heads the national committee for bird flu prevention, said the authorities remained on constant alert.
"Every reported case of dead birds is being thoroughly tested. That is why we managed to detect bird flu in wild birds as soon as it appeared, and this prompted some other European countries to do the same," he said.
Some 800 veterinary experts and inspectors are monitoring poultry farms and areas which host migratory birds, he added.
Ornithologist Dragan Radovic said the situation could become more dangerous when a larger number of wild swans leave northeastern Europe and land in Croatia in the next few weeks.
The European Commission this week banned exports of wild fowl, live poultry and certain poultry products from Croatia.
