British lab confirms Serbian swan had H5N1 bird flu

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

BELGRADE (AFP) — A British laboratory has confirmed that a wild swan found dead in Serbia last week had the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu.

"Analysing a sample from a dead swan, which had already been confirmed as having the virus in Serbia, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Britain ... has confirmed that the results are positive to the avian influenza virus H5N1," Serbia's agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The swan had been found dead on Thursday last week in a swampy area near the River Danube, less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Serbian border with Croatia and Hungary.

On Monday, Serbian health authorities told AFP that testing by two local laboratories had confirmed the country's first case of the strain of the...