Macedonian authorities said today one dead chicken found among hundreds in a village north of the Greek border had raised suspicions and that samples were to be tested for possible bird flu.
"We had one sample which was suspicious. It could be any kind of flu, not only bird flu. But to be sure we decided to send the sample to the UK for tests," said Macedonia's chief veterinarian official.
Greece confirmed its first case of bird flu on Monday and was conducting tests to determine if it was the deadly strain of the virus, which some scientists say is likely to mutate, causing a pandemic among humans.
The country banned exports of poultry from some of its Aegean islands today but warned people not to panic pending test results that could show the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain has reached the European Union.
The results of tests on a bird flu-infected turkey from a farm on the remote island of Inousses in the Aegean are expected later this week.
The H5N1 strain of the virus, which has killed more than 60 people and millions of birds in Asia since 2003, has already been detected in neighbouring Turkey and Romania, but this would be the first such case in the 25-nation EU.
"Today, probably this afternoon, following more tests, we will know for certain whether the H5 bird flu has indeed affected that specific bird, and in about six or seven days we will have the results regarding the H5N1 strain," Deputy Agriculture Minister Alexandros Kontos said.
He said nine more samples and a dead turkey from the same farm, as well as dozens of other birds from around the country, had been sent for testing today.
The turkey has already tested positive for H5, a less dangerous strain of bird flu. Additional tests were ordered at an EU-accredited laboratory in northern Greece.
Agriculture Minister Evangelos Basiakos ordered an export ban on all poultry products from the area around the island of Chios, in agreement with the European Commission.