Serbia has taken all necessary measures to prevent the bird flu since the first cases of the bird flu was discovered in Romania and Turkey, a government minister said on Wednesday.

Romania and Turkey have been placed on the list of countries from which import of poultry has been banned, Serbian Minister of Agriculture Ivana Dulic-Markovic said.

She said that other measures include a proposed ban on wild fowl hunting, informing relevant inspection services, printing of educational leaflets and issuing warnings to all poultry farmers.

Last year Serbia monitored 36 species of migratory birds and bird flu virus was not found in any of them, said the minister.

The deadly bird flu virus, which killed 65 people in Asia last year, reached Europe for the first time last week when over 2,000 infected birds died in western Turkey and first cases were noted in the Danube delta in Romania.

Belgrade epidemiologists have said that Serbia were not directly threatened by the appearance of bird flu in neighboring Romania because sick birds usually can't fly too far.

Serbia's West Balkan neighbors have also banned birds and poultry meat from Turkey and Romania and teams of experts are watching the movement of migrating birds, which are believed to be the main carrier of the virus.

Source: Xinhua