14 DAY TRIAL // As bird flu continues being spread by swans all over the European continent, Hungary became the sixth member of the European Union which confirmed the infection.
Today, bird flu was confirmed by the UE laboratories in Germany and more suspicious cases were reported in Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Denmark. The disease hit sooner than the specialist expected as the virus was expected to arrive with the spring migration.
The birds were probably migrating south, to the Black Sea, but were driven west by the cold weather. The infected countries have ordered farmers to keep their poultry indoors in order to stop the spread or the eventual contamination to humans.
Authorities are tracking the virus in case it mutates to a form which is easily transmitted among humans. So far, no domestic birds and no humans have been diagnosed with the virus in the European countries.
After the death of 91 people sick of bird flu, mainly in Asia, the disease is seen as a global problem. The closest case of a contaminated human around Europe was in Turkey, where people had contact with dead chickens and became jittery.
Mr. Thomson, member of the World Health Organization: "We have been encouraging governments to begin or continue with their pandemic preparedness, to stockpile certain materials which they may find helpful during a pandemic, to encourage the development of vaccines, to think through how they will handle a very sudden or massive demand for health care services and whether or not they want to cancel mass gatherings."