The EU announced yesterday the dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Croatia, the latest European nation to be hit by the virus.

"The commission has been informed by the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge that the virus isolated in wild birds in Croatia is indeed the H5N1 virus," said EU Commission spokesperson Philip Tod.

Following the announcement of the suspected case over the weekend, the European Commission on Monday issued a precautionary ban on imports of live poultry, wild birds and feathers from that Balkan country. "That ban remains in force," said Tod.

Meanwhile, officials in Germany say at least a dozen dead birds found in the country have tested positive for bird flu.

Further tests will now be carried on the infected birds in Germany to see whether they were carrying the deadly H5N1 stream, which is lethal to humans.

India tests dead birds

Blood samples from 10 dead migratory birds in eastern India have been sent for bird flu virus tests, a state minister said yesterday.

India has had no reported case of bird flu, but authorities are concerned because thousands of migratory birds come to nest in the country in the winter.

"We are not taking any chances and have sent the blood samples for avian flu tests," said West Bengal Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahaman.

The samples have been sent to a laboratory in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

West Bengal forest officials said around 40 dead birds had been found in one of the state's five bird sanctuaries in the past week, but added that the birds could have died after falling from their nests during a storm.

The birds were found by wildlife personnel at the Kulik sanctuary, about 475 kilometers north of Kolkata, the state capital. Officials did not have details of the bird species.

West Bengal receives, among other migratory birds, the Bar-headed Goose and the Great Cormorant species already reported to be carriers of the virus.

A federal health official said all 29 Indian states had been asked to take blood samples of dead birds found at nesting sites and test them for the bird flu virus.

Authorities in Orissa State, West Bengal's neighbor, which also receives thousands of migratory birds every week, have said the avian visitors would be monitored for signs of the infection.

Suggested sharing of flu drugs

Mexico's health minister urged wealthy nations to help provide flu drugs to the developing world, saying on Tuesday that the divide between the rich and the poor would be catastrophic in the event of a global bird flu pandemic.

"I think the ethical, the political, the future security implications of the situation where only the wealthy countries have access to vaccines and drugs would be unimaginable," said Julio Frenk on the sidelines of a conference to prepare for a global flu pandemic. "It would be as harmful, or even more harmful, than the pandemic itself."

Frenk, attending the two-day conference with 30 health ministers and the heads of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, put forward a proposal to devote a percentage of anti-virals and future vaccines for developing nations. While earlier reports had said he would suggest 10 per cent, Frenk said he did not present a specific figure.

Ministers hedged any commitment, however, to set aside anti-virals or future vaccines and said the WHO should be the repository of any pandemic drugs.

They added that the industrialized nations were working on a plan to assist the WHO in the case of a pandemic and deploy to developing nations to help them contain any outbreaks.

"There was an alternative approach that we discussed as well, that WHO should be the first line for defense," said Canada's Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.

(China Daily October 27, 2005)