BULGARIA stepped up measures to stop the spread of bird flu to the country, after reports of the disease being detected in a number of neighbouring states.

By October 19, none of the dead birds found in various regions of Bulgaria and submitted for examination had been shown to have died of bird flu.

In a statement on October 17, the Health Ministry said that an interdepartmental bird flu crisis task force had started work.

It is headed by Health Minister Radoslav Gaidarski. His deputy is Agriculture and Forestry Minister Nihat Kabil.

The task force includes experts from seven state ministries and scientists.

It held its first session on October 19.

Members discussed steps to be taken by medical authorities in Bulgaria and by the public in the case of a bird flu pandemic among the population. They also discussed how to mitigate the medical and social consequences of such a pandemic. The measures were listed in a National Pandemic Plan, which was to be put to the Cabinet for approval.

A National Pandemic Committee will implement the steps.

The Health Ministry requested five million leva for the most urgent anti-pandemic measures.

According to the most recent data, the National Veterinary Medical Service (NVMS) had so far checked 1169 poultry-breeding facilities and 91 market places trading in poultry that had connections to the bird flu cases in Turkey, Romania and Greece.

The epizootic (the term used to describe an epidemic among animals) commissions have held 173 sessions, mapping out measures to prevent the spread of the disease to Bulgaria.

"Veterinary inspectors are continuing to monitor water basins jointly with the National Forestry Administration and the Union of Hunters and Anglers in Bulgaria for dead birds," a media statement said.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Kabil issued orders forbidding the importation of eggs and poultry from Romania, Turkey and Greece.

At border veterinary inspection stations in Varna, Rousse, Silistra and Kyustendil, veterinary authorities had by October 19 confiscated 130 kg of poultry products and 175 eggs from passengers entering Bulgaria.

They also stopped attempted smuggling of duck legs from Turkey and of poultry from Macedonia.

"At present, monitoring for potential bird-flu cases has been intensified and there are no grounds for panic," NVMS director-general Zheko Baichev said in the media statement.

Angel Gulubov, WHO expert on viral infections, said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio that the spread of bird flu to humans was very unlikely.

"It is highly unlikely for humans to contract the disease, even if there are birds that have it," he said. "The panic among the population is wrong. It is also incorrect that poultry and eggs should not be eaten."

Despite there being no bird flu in Bulgaria, coverage of the issue by most Bulgarian-language media has been strident, and reactions to suspected cases have been jittery.

On October 17 in Sofia, police sealed off a stretch of Sofia's Vitosha Boulevard for more than four hours, because of a dead woodcock lying on the pavement.

Sales of eggs and poultry products have plummeted, even though shop owners and producers have assured customers that no poultry is imported into Bulgaria and that local produce complies with veterinary and sanitary standards.

Meanwhile, the producers of poultry complained that the new limitations and the mandatory daily disinfections in the bird farms were pushing up their expenses and, as a result, they would have to hike prices of poultry and eggs.

Lyubo Lozanov, director of Ameta Holding, one of the two biggest Bulgarian poultry production companies, said that prices would rise by at least 15 per cent by the end of the month because of the new measures.

Lozanov also said that the bird flu virus was hardly likely to come to Bulgaria, but if this did happen, village farmyards were most likely to be exposed to infection.

"The industry cannot possibly be affected because it is far more closed and sterile, and the poultry have practically no access to their faeces nor to water sources which could be infected by birds of passage," he said.

As a precaution, the Foreign Ministry advised people to avoid visiting southeastern Romania due to the spread of bird flu in the area.