The authorities in Rome last night appealed to Italians not to touch dead or sick birds, as alarm spread over the arrival in western Europe of a virulent form of the deadly strain of avian flu, H5N1.
On Saturday, the health minister, Francesco Storace, announced the disease had reached Italy - apparently borne by migrating swans driven out of the Balkans by the intense cold of recent weeks. Yesterday, another case of avian flu was confirmed in neighbouring Slovenia, leading authorities in Austria to impose strict controls along the Austro-Slovenian frontier.
The keenest concern over the infection of human beings was in Nigeria, however. An investigation team was sent to a farm in Kaduna state where the H5N1 strain has been reported, and where at least two children were said to be sick.
In Italy, health workers carried out checks on wetlands, from Sicily in the south to near Venice in the north. Mr Storace said that a total of 22 wild swans had been found dead in three southern regions; five had been killed by a highly pathogenic strain of H5N1, which can be lethal to humans, two being found on the mainland and three in Sicily.
Mr Storace revealed that a dead swan had also been found at Pescara on the Adriatic. The woman who discovered it put the bird into a sack and delivered it to the local authorities. It was this incident that led the government to issue its warning against handling birds which could be infected. Guidelines being sent to health centres throughout the country advised anyone who came into contact with a suspect bird to wash both themselves and their clothing afterwards.
With alarm spreading, a health official at Crotone in Calabria denied reports that a child had been admitted to hospital after touching a dead chicken. From Sicily, it was reported that a swan living on a pond in a town in the centre of the island had been attacked and injured. The government said it was setting up a phone line to answer queries. Sicilian officials said some local people had called to ask if they could keep their pet canaries.
The European Commission said that Slovenia had sent samples of avian flu virus found in a swan to Britain for tests. Officials in Austria said Slovenian veterinarians had told them they had found the lethal H5N1 strain, but Slovenian authorities said they could only be sure it was H5. The area where the swan was collected was less than six miles from the border with Austria, the commission said.
Austria's southernmost province, Carinthia, introduced border controls on livestock and food from Slovenia. Dead swans in Greece and Bulgaria tested positive for the highly pathogenic version of the H5N1 strain on Saturday.
In Nigeria, the government said bird flu has now been confirmed at five farms and is suspected at a further 22.
Lola Sadiq, a bird flu expert with the World Health Organisation in the capital, Abuja, told Associated Press that a team had been sent to the farm where the disease was first detected: "They are monitoring the people, farmers ... to see if they have the virus." Chickens started dying four weeks ago, raising fears the virus might spread before emergency measures could be enforced. Police and veterinary officials have culled poultry across northern Nigeria. At one farm, according to reports, police slaughtered a flock of ostriches using automatic weapons.
European countries with confirmed cases of avian influenza:
Azerbaijan Reported its first outbreak of H5N1 last Friday in wild birds in the Caspian Sea near the border with Iran.
Bulgaria The European Union confirmed on Saturday several cases of H5N1 in wild swans found close to the Romanian border.
Greece Confirmed cases on Saturday of H5N1 in three dead swans found near the northern city of Salonika.
Italy Said on Saturday that five wild swans found in Sicily and on the southern mainland had tested positive for H5N1.
Slovenia Sent samples from a dead swan found near the Austrian border for further testing yesterday to establish whether the confirmed H5 strain was H5N1.
Bird flu was previously confirmed in Russia, Ukraine and Romania, with Romania confirming on Saturday that it had found new cases of the disease in the Danube delta.
