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.