Deadly bird flu spreads in France, import ban spreads

FRANCE: More wild birds found dead in eastern France were victims of the lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu, Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau said Sunday, as Hong Kong joined Japan in banning poultry imports from France.

While the European Union came to terms with the arrival of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain in its farm sector, in Asia, where bird flu was first identified, China warned of possible widespread outbreaks of the flu during the coming spring bird migratory season and announced two more human cases of the virus.

The deadly form of bird flu appeared to be taking hold in wild birds across Germany after more outbreaks in the north of the country and the first suspected cases in the region around the capital Berlin. Switzerland recorded its first case of H5 bird flu in a type of wild duck found near Geneva's water fountain and tests were underway to determine if it was H5N1 that has broken out in the neighboring region of France. Romania said Sunday that the H5N1 strain of the virus had been found in the southeast of the country the country's 35th outbreak but tests were continuing to determine whether it was the highly pathogenic variant.

Indian officials slaughtered hundreds of thousands of chickens and checked around 90,000 people for bird flu symptoms in the northwestern state of Gujarat as authorities ordered tests on dead birds in Assam in the northeast of the country.

Officials in northern Nigeria, where bird flu has been detected, sought to convince people to continue eating chicken and showed on television top officials feasting on poultry. Paris, Monday, AFP