EU braces for bird flu as virus continues moving west

IRAQ, Serbia and Germany reported the latest cases in the spread of bird flu yesterday and health officials and researchers around the world prepared to fight a possible d eadly avian flu pandemic among humans.

Iraq said a woman had died in a suspected case of the H5N1 bird flu virus and Serbia said it had detected its first case of bird flu in a dead swan that was being tested to see if it had the deadly strain.

A dead cat found on the German island of Ruegen this week was infected with the highly pathogenic form of H5N1 bird flu that can be fatal to humans, the national veterinary laboratory said.

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute said the cat had exactly the same highly contagious strain of the virus detected in wild swans found on the Baltic Sea island, the epicentre of Germany’s bird flu outbreak.

It said this was the first case of its kind in the European Union.

The laboratory referred to the type of H5N1 found in the cat as the “Asian” strain of the virus that has claimed 93 human lives since 2003.

The finding has caused concern in pet-loving nations, despite the World Health Organisation saying it did not increase the risk to humans.

“The discovery isn’t a reason for panic or hysteria but it’s a new situation,” German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said.