Bird flu hits Italy
11/02/2006 16:56  - (SA)  

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Rome - The highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu has been detected in wild swans in Italy.

According to Italian health minister Francesco Storace, H5N1 was found in two dead swans in Sicily on Saturday.

He said the strain is suspected in at least half-a-dozen birds elsewhere in the south of the country.

Storace tried to calm fears by saying that, so far, no one had caught the virus directly from wild birds.

He said all the human cases so far have been contracted from domestic poultry.

Storace said: "We are relatively unworried as regards human health but there are reasons for concern for animal health."

 

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