There is police protection for a zone in Torun, in northern Poland on the bank of the Vistula River, the site where a dead swan was found. Polish vets confirmed the presence of the H5N1 bird flu virus in that swan.
The swan was found near the German border but the vets did not confirm whether the bird had the potent strain that could infect humans.As put by Tadeusz Wijaszka, director of the national laboratory in Pulawy, eastern Poland,"We already have the results of tests on the swan found in (the west Polish town) Kostrzyn Wielkopolski. It did have the H5N1 virus."
. "The spring is coming. It is clear that when it arrives we will have more and more cases of bid flu," head of Polish veterinary services Krzysztof Jazdzewski said.
Poland informed authorities in the neighbouring German state of Brandenburg and established observation zones around Swinoujscie and Kostrzyn Wielkopolski.
The highly virulent strain of the H5N1 virus has proved fatal to humans. At least 96 people have died from it since 2003, mainly in Asia. The presence of that dangerous strain has not been proved as of now.
