Bird Flu in Czech Republic Dead Swan Near Austrian Border
Recombinomics Commentary
June 27, 2007
Czech veterinaries revealed another case of bird flu as tests proved the virus in a swan that died in Lednice, south Moravia, public Czech Television (CT) and Aktualne.cz news server reported today.
Further tests have yet to confirm whether the virus is the deadly H5N1 strain, said Jaroslav Salava, who heads the veterinary administration in south Moravia.
He said that the result of the tests will be known on Thursday or later.
The Lednice water reservoirs are one of the most risky areas through which very many wild birds move, but from the veterinary point of view it is a rather good locality as there are no big bird farms around, Salava said.
The above confirmation of bird flu in a dead swan in Lednice will almost certainly be Qinghai H5N1. H5N1 has been confirmed on a turkey farm in northern Czech Republic. It is likely in an adjacent farm, where dead poultry is H5 positive. Dead wild birds in that area also have bird flu symptoms. The H5N1 on the turkey farm is said to be 99.5% identical with H5N1 from Kuwait.
The detection of bird flu in a dead swan in Lednice is near the southern border with Slovakia and Austria, defining another location of bird flu in wild birds in Europe. Detection of bird flu in June, further supports the endemic nature of H5N1 in Europe and highlights the need for an improved surveillance system.
Western Europe failed to detect H5N1 in almost all countries between June 2006 and June 2007. There have been no reports of H5N1 in live wild birds. These surveillance failures remain a cause for concern.
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