Background: Bird flu confirmed in eight EU countries so far

Feb 25, 2006, 16:37 GMT

Brussels - The deadly H5N1 strain of the bird-flu virus has been detected in eight European Union countries since it first appeared in the union on February 11, 2006.

The first H5N1 case was found in Italy, and in France the first infection of domestic poultry was confirmed on February 25.

GERMANY: On February 14, the bird-flu virus was confirmed in deceased swans on the Baltic island of Ruegen. The H5N1 virus reached the mainland in eastern and northern parts of West Pommerania on February 19, and the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg on February 23. Bird flu was reported in Schleswig-Holstein and Baden-Wuerttemberg on February 24. By February 25, the pathogen was confirmed in more than 110 animals.

FRANCE: On February 18, the French Food Safety Agency's (AFSSA) laboratory confirmed the virus in a wild duck that had been found dead in the eastern department of Ain. France reported the first case of bird flu in domestic poultry on a breeding farm on February 25. H5N1 was detected in deceased turkeys. More than 400 of the 11,000 animals kept indoors died from the disease at the facility in Versailleux. Five employees at the affected facility were being treated by doctors as a preventative measure.

GREECE: The H5N1 strain of the virus was detected in three dead swans in Greece on February 11, 2006. The Agriculture Ministry has since confirmed H5N1 in a total of five swans and one wild goose.

ITALY: Italian authorities announced on February 11, 2006 that two dead swans had succumbed to H5N1. Italy has since confirmed 16 cases, including one wild duck and a buzzard.

AUSTRIA: On February 13, 2006, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety's (AGES) laboratory detected the H5N1 strain of the bird- flu virus in two of the dead swans found in the state of Styria.

SLOVAKIA: The Slovakian government confirmed on February 23, 2006 H5N1 infections in a peregrine found near Bratislava and a grebe found in the capital.

SLOVENIA: On February 13, 2006, Slovenian authorities confirmed the H5N1 strain of the bird-flu virus in a dead swan found near the Austrian border.

HUNGARY: The Hungarian government announced on February 21, 2006 that tissue-sample tests had detected H5N1 in three deceased swans. Four further tests of dead wildfowl were still being carried out.

Britain has not yet been affected by bird flu, apart from two Taiwanese finches that were discovered to have the H5N1 strain of the virus in a quarantine facility which they have not been allowed to leave.

Internet listings of bird-flu cases around the world: www.oie.int/downld/avian%20influenza/A_AI-Asia.htm and www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/country for cases in humans.