Bulgaria reports first case of H5 avian flu
By Tsvetelia Ilieva
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria has discovered its first case of H5 bird flu in a dead swan on its border with Romania, authorities said on Friday, and samples will be sent to Britain to test whether it is strain that can kill people.
Sandwiched between Romania and Turkey, which have both been hit by outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, Bulgaria has been seen as a possible destination for the virus.
"Our teams found a wild swan in the Danube river near the town of Vidin. The tests on the swan showed it was infected with the H5 virus," Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil told a news conference.
He said he had put his veterinary offices on high alert but said the discovery of one infected swan did not mean there was the danger of wider outbreaks.
"This was a single bird," he said. "There is no sign of any strange behaviour or massive deaths by wild birds."
The swan was found alive but died after showing symptoms of shaking and partial paralysis.
Bulgaria is not able to conduct the complex tests which can tell whether a strain of H5 is the highly pathogenic H5N1, which has killed at least 86 people and millions of birds since 2003.
Human victims contract the virus through close contact with infected birds. However, experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.
MIGRATORY BIRDS
"If we send the samples on Monday or Tuesday to the EU-registered laboratory in England, we will have the results by the end of the week," Kabil said.
Scientists believe migratory birds first brought the virus to the region from Russia as they travelled south along the Pontic migratory route, which stretches south from northern Russia and Europe and passes along the Black Sea's western coast.
In Turkey, four children died of H5N1 last month and authorities have culled 1.3 million birds in domestic flocks to halt its spread.
Romania, home to Europe's largest wetlands in the Danube delta, has detected cases in birds in 26 villages, while to the north Ukraine officials have destroyed hundreds of thousands of domestic birds after numerous outbreaks there.
Croatia has also detected H5N1 in wild swans.
Bulgaria, a relatively poor Black Sea country of 7.8 million, has banned poultry from its neighbours, forbidden the hunting of wild birds, told farmers to keep domestic fowl indoors and has stepped up surveillance of migratory birds in wetland areas.
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria has discovered its first case of H5 bird flu in a dead swan on its border with Romania, authorities said on Friday, and samples will be sent to Britain to test whether it is strain that can kill people.
Sandwiched between Romania and Turkey, which have both been hit by outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, Bulgaria has been seen as a possible destination for the virus.
"Our teams found a wild swan in the Danube river near the town of Vidin. The tests on the swan showed it was infected with the H5 virus," Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil told a news conference.
He said he had put his veterinary offices on high alert but said the discovery of one infected swan did not mean there was the danger of wider outbreaks.
"This was a single bird," he said. "There is no sign of any strange behaviour or massive deaths by wild birds."
The swan was found alive but died after showing symptoms of shaking and partial paralysis.
Bulgaria is not able to conduct the complex tests which can tell whether a strain of H5 is the highly pathogenic H5N1, which has killed at least 86 people and millions of birds since 2003.
Human victims contract the virus through close contact with infected birds. However, experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.
MIGRATORY BIRDS
"If we send the samples on Monday or Tuesday to the EU-registered laboratory in England, we will have the results by the end of the week," Kabil said.
Scientists believe migratory birds first brought the virus to the region from Russia as they travelled south along the Pontic migratory route, which stretches south from northern Russia and Europe and passes along the Black Sea's western coast.
In Turkey, four children died of H5N1 last month and authorities have culled 1.3 million birds in domestic flocks to halt its spread.
Romania, home to Europe's largest wetlands in the Danube delta, has detected cases in birds in 26 villages, while to the north Ukraine officials have destroyed hundreds of thousands of domestic birds after numerous outbreaks there.
Croatia has also detected H5N1 in wild swans.
Bulgaria, a relatively poor Black Sea country of 7.8 million, has banned poultry from its neighbours, forbidden the hunting of wild birds, told farmers to keep domestic fowl indoors and has stepped up surveillance of migratory birds in wetland areas.
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