Serbian authorities report first suspected bird flu case

Serbia’s agriculture ministry said today that initial tests conducted on a wild swan found in northwestern Serbia revealed that it had died of the H5 strain of bird flu.

Samples from the bird – found on February 28 near the border with Croatia - will be sent to the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, England, to determine whether the bird had the lethal H5N1 strain, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.