More European countries have reported bird flu cases as Britain and Croatia confirmed Friday the discovery of bird flu virus in a dead parrot and swans respectively, indicating that the epidemic was further spreading throughout Europe.

The British government announced on Friday that a parrot imported from South America which died in quarantine in Britain has been diagnosed as having avian flu, the first case of its kind in Britain for more than a decade.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the South American bird was infected with the H5 strain of the virus. It was part of a mixed consignment of 148 parrots and " soft bills" that arrived in Britain on Sept. 16.

H5 and H7 of the 15 subtypes of the avian influenza virus can be of either low or high pathogenicity. The discovery of an H5 type virus does not necessarily indicate the presence of H5N1, which has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries since breaking out in late 2003 in South Korea.

Defra said the birds, which were being kept in a biosecure quarantine unit, have all been humanely culled, stressing that there is no cause for alarm.

Also on Friday, Croatia confirmed the country's first cases of bird flu with six swans testing positive for the H5 type, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Twelve swans were found dead near a pond in the village of Zdenci in eastern Croatia on Thursday.

Later on Friday, the European Commission said it was preparing a ban on poultry imports from Croatia after it became the latest European nation to register cases of bird flu.

Before these developments, the H5N1 bird flu had already been found in Romania, Turkey and Greece.

With the spread of the potentially deadly disease, governments have strengthened prevention and quarantine measures.

The Swiss government said Friday that it had banned the keeping of poultry outdoors to avoid domestic fowl contracting bird flu through contact with migratory birds carrying the virus.

The order, which is aimed at protecting domestic fowl from

birds migrating from the countries and regions affected by the epidemic, follows similar actions taken in Germany, Austria and Serbia, which also banned the sale of live birds.

In a further move to prevent the spread of the virus, the European Union (EU) has extended its ban on Thursday on live pet birds and feathers from the Russian regions east of the Ural Mountains to all of Russia except a few regions. The ban will stay in force for six months.

Russia has been fighting bird flu since mid-July and has killed more than 600,000 domestic fowls.

The EU's food chain standing committee also endorsed further biosecurity measures on Thursday for domestic flocks and preventive vaccination of zoo birds to further reduce the threat of avian flu.

The World Health Organization said on Friday that it would help Albania in bird flu prevention by sending experts and technical assistance to the country.

In Africa, Uganda imposed a ban the import of poultry and poultry products on Friday, two days after the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned of the risk of bird flu spreading to the Middle East and African countries, especially East Africa, following the confirmed outbreaks of avian influenza in Romania and Turkey.

A senior Kenyan health official also pledged the government's commitment on Friday to combat a possible outbreak of the deadly avian flu.

In Asia, the son of the 13th bird flu victim in Thailand has been infected by the deadly virus, the hospital monitoring the patient confirmed.

Doctor Prasit Wattanapha, director of the Siriraj Hospital, said results from laboratory tests confirmed that the boy, Ronnarit Benpad, had been infected by the virus.

Source: Xinhua