BULGARIA will export about 20 million eggs and nearly 800 tons of goose liver after the ban on the export of birds and bird products from Bulgaria is lifted. This was said by Bulgaria's Agriculture and Forestry Minister Nihat Kabil on February 21 in Plovdiv.

The European Commission's Veterinary Committee is allowing Bulgaria to export birds, bird products and eggs originating from industrial complexes after it had placed a ban on all bird and poultry products on February 13. This implies an acknowledgement of the high sanitary standards in such complexes, which make infection practically impossible. Only the ban on the export of live birds and products from waterfowl remains valid after the active interference of experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, Kabil said.

The H5N1 virus was found in four wild migratory swans in Bulgaria, as confirmed by a European Union Community Reference Laboratory in the UK last week. The samples were taken from Vidin in north-west Bulgaria, Kraimorie in the Bourgas region, and Dourankulak and the Tsonevo dam in the Varna region. No domestic poultry has so far tested positive of the H5N1 strain.

Experts from the National Veterinary Medical Service (NVMS) said that the migration of wild birds back to the North has already begun and this would reduce the danger of a bird flu outbreak in Bulgaria. Twenty days after the birds fly away, the danger of bird flu will not be gone, but will definitely decrease, NVMS Executive Director Zheko Baichev said on February 22.

Eighty thousand white-fronted geese headed for the northern countries last week. There are about 450 swans that will fly away immediately after the melting of the ice of the northern lakes.

"Even if the contaminated birds delay their departure, the possibility of transmitting the disease to domestic fowl is reduced to minimum," vets said. "It's enough if the poultry are isolated and don't have any contact with wild birds."

A campaign to clean lakes of dead birds so as to prevent possible spreading of the disease will begin next week, Kabil said.

On February 21, the Health Ministry said that bird flu cases have not been diagnosed in humans in the country. Cases of respiratory problems in people are reported every day, but none of them warrant suspicion of bird flu, the ministry said. National Movement Simeon II MP and European Parliament observer Antonia Purvanova called on the media not to spread panic by reporting possible bird flu contamination of humans before they are confirmed as such. Her statement came after a 27-year-old woman, who was reported as possibly infected with the virus, died in Plovdiv on Monday. The woman died of bilateral pneumonia and respiratory insufficiency, Dr. Mariana Stoicheva of the Clinic of Infectious Diseases in Plovdiv said.

According to the NVMS, three- and 10-km-wide zones have been designated around the places where the dead swans have been found. Temporary disinfection facilities have been set up at access points around the water bodies there, and police guard the areas. Samples are regularly taken from domestic birds in the said zones and submitted for serological and virological tests.

Birds are not allowed to roam freely in the marked zones and roads, and vehicles and farm entrances undergo disinfections.

Bird hunting is forbidden in all of Bulgaria.

On February 21, the regional epizootic commissions of Bourgas and Yambol in south-eastern Bulgaria and the NVMS's Baichev called meetings to consider the prevention and control of bird flu and classic swine fever. They also discussed measures against foot-and-mouth disease in cloven-hoofed animals, which has been detected in neighbouring Turkey.

The H5N1 strain has also been found in Austria, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Romania and Slovenia.

The districts in Bulgarian that are considered risky are Dobrich, Montana, Pleven, Razgrad, Rousse, Silistra, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin and Vratsa.