14 DAY TRIAL // Two dead birds in Germany and a number of swans in Austria have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus. The cases mark the virus's menacing progress to the West of Europe.
The flu, which is also deadly for humans, has been confirmed in countries like Italy, Bulgaria and Greece so far.
The Austrian Government took drastic measures in order to stop the spread, by setting up a protection zone around the space where the swans were found. German officials ordered that domestic birds be kept inside beginning this Friday.
Infected swans were also found in Apulia, a region of Italy, where over 80,000 birds and 7,000 eggs were confiscated in order to stop the bird flu spreading. Samples of the diseased birds were taken to the EU laboratory in Britain for final tests. The virus, which started from Asia, is carried by migratory birds and has already contaminated nine Asian nations. It is now present in Europe, Africa and the Middle-East, in nations like Turkey, Romania, Iraq, and Iran.
Since its violent comeback in 2003, the flu killed 91 people, according to the World Health Organization. The general fear is now that the mutation of the virus will mutate into one that is transmitted between humans, thus causing a pandemic.
A crisis meeting will be held on Wednesday, to review the threat in the affected European countries. Officials expressed their growing concern that the virus is acting like the one in 1918, a pandemic which killed more that 20 million people.