A Bulgarian man suspected of having caught bird flu has been put into an isolation chamber for close observation and tests, Bulgarian telegraph agency reported on Saturday.

The 32-year-old man from the southern Bulgarian village of Preslavtsi is the first Bulgarian that is suspected of suffering from bird flu.

He had touched his dead ducks with his hands but did not show all symptoms of bird flu now, Todor Gogovski, a doctor from a hospital at the southern city of Haskovo, was quoted as saying.

The test results will be known in the coming days. The dead fowls were also being tested by veterinary departments for the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.

On Feb. 11, the European Central Reference Laboratory in Britain confirmed that two dead swan found at Bulgaria's Danube riverside carried the H5N1 bird flu virus. Bulgaria's Agriculture and Forestry Minister Nihat Kabil later warned the country of a possible bird flu outbreak.

In Europe, H5N1 presence has been confirmed in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia.

Source: Xinhua