BRITAIN: A parrot that died in quarantine in Britain has been diagnosed with bird flu, the country's agriculture ministry said yesterday.
"A highly pathogenic H5 avian flu virus has been isolated in the parrot imported from Suriname, South America," the ministry said in a statement.
UK chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said: "The confirmed case does not affect the UK's official disease-free status because the disease has been identified in imported birds during quarantine."
The bird was part of a mixed consignment of 148 parrots and "soft bills" that arrived on September 16th. They were being held with a consignment of birds from Taiwan. The birds, which were being held in a biosecure quarantine unit, have all been humanely culled, the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.
Ms Reynolds said this "incident showed the importance of the UK's quarantine system".
Meanwhile Croatian scientists have detected also a bird flu virus in wild swans, the agriculture ministry said, adding that samples were being sent to the UK for testing.
"We have sent samples to Britain for further checks. There were six dead swans found in a fish pond in eastern Croatia," ministry spokesman Mladen Pavic said. A government statement issued by prime minister Ivo Sanader said: "We are taking all necessary measures to prevent the virus from spreading. We don't think there is any danger for people."
Bird flu has been detected in Romania, which shares the Danube waterway with Croatia, and in Turkey. A case in Greece and another in Macedonia, south of Croatia, are still being examined to determine exactly what virus may be involved in bird deaths. - (PA and Reuters)
Seán MacConnell, Agriculture Correspondent adds: It emerged yesterday that a Thai boy who tested positive for the disease is recovering and there is no sign he had caught the virus from his father, who died earlier this week.
Seven-year-old Ronarit Benpad, who was treated with anti-flu drug Tamiflu in the early stages of his infection, had recovered his appetite and his temperature had returned to normal, although he would remain under observation for two weeks, doctors said yesterday.
In Geneva, World Health Organisation spokesman Dick Thompson said the risk from the flu to humans in Europe remained "very low".
"The crisis may seem more intense now because birds in Europe have become infected," he told reporters, "but the risk is pretty much the same as it has been - it is very low to humans, but we're worried about the transformation of the virus into a human pandemic strain."
Since breaking out in late 2003 in South Korea, H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries.