Portugal has stepped up its anti-bird flu measures to prevent the further spread of the virus after neighboring Spain detected its first H5N1 case in a wild bird.

On Friday, Spain reported its first case of H5N1 bird flu in a waterfowl outside the northern city of Vitoria.

Portuguese Agriculture Minister Jaime Silva said Saturday that his Spanish counterpart has briefed him about the case.

Silva said Portuguese health authorities has long had contingency plans in place after cases of the highly pathogenic bird flu were reported elsewhere in the world, but it was not time yet for Portugal to raise the alarm.

He added around 6,000 poultry and birds in Portugal have been tested so far this year and no highly pathogenic bird flu virus has been detected.

On Saturday, the Portuguese national veterinarian association decided to beef up measures against the strain, especially in poultry farms and markets selling wild birds as well as poultry products.

The chairman of the association said it was only a matter of time similar cases would be found in Portugal as well since the virus was already recorded in neighboring Spain.

Luiz Kosta, head of the country's national ornithology research institute, said the crested grebe detected with the H5N1 virus in Spain, also lives in Portugal, so experts would not rule out the possibility the crested grebes in Portugal also carry the virus.

Kosta stressed the need to quickly ascertain how the crested grebe was infected with the H5N1 virus.

So far, it has only been confirmed that people contract the disease through direct contact with birds. But the World Health Organization warns of a possible global pandemic if the virus mutates into a strain easily transmitted from humans to humans.

Source: Xinhua