Croatian seagulls carrying bird flu
Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 15-Mar-2006 00:45 hrs

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected in several seagulls in the south of Croatia, where several swans have already died of the disease.

"We have carried out tests on 30 or more seagulls and several samples have come back positive for the H5N1 strain," agriculture ministry spokesman Mladen Pavic said Tuesday.

Pavic did not specify how many samples turned up positive, but said they had been taken randomly between February 28 and March 3 in the town of Pantana, near Split on the country's southern coast.

Health officials in the region, a major tourist haven, have been closely watching the area since mid-February when two swans were confirmed dead from the H5N1 infection.

Some 1,200 birds within a three-kilometer (two-mile) radius from where the swans were found have since been slaughtered.

And in February the ministry of agriculture stepped up safety measures to keep the disease from spreading.

Such measures include the confinement of poultry throughout the country, a ban on the sale of poultry from affected areas and outlawing hunting of wild birds. — AFP

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected in several seagulls in the south of Croatia, where several swans have already died of the disease.

"We have carried out tests on 30 or more seagulls and several samples have come back positive for the H5N1 strain," agriculture ministry spokesman Mladen Pavic said Tuesday.

Pavic did not specify how many samples turned up positive, but said they had been taken randomly between February 28 and March 3 in the town of Pantana, near Split on the country's southern coast.