The Bulgarian authorities said on Friday that a dead swan on its border with Romania is suspected of having contracted the bird flu virus, and samples will be sent to Britain for further tests.

The wild swan, which test data showed to be infected with the H5 virus, was found in the Danube river near the town of Vidin,

Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil said.

He said that his government had informed European veterinary authorities of the case and that samples from the swan were being prepared for further tests in the EU-registered laboratory in Britain, since Bulgaria itself lacks the ability to conduct the complex tests to determine whether this specific strain of H5 is the H5N1 that has led to the deaths of 86 people.

The country's neighbors, Romania and Turkey, have both suffered outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu since last October, and Bulgaria has banned poultry from these two countries. It has also asked farmers to keep fowl indoors, and intensified surveillance on wetland areas.

Source: Xinhua